City and Nonprofit Pages Hit by Meta Link Caps

Meta is applying Facebook link restrictions to government and nonprofit pages, groups the company previously indicated would be exempt from the test. Officials and nonprofit operators say their accounts cannot add more than a set number of website addresses to posts each month unless they pay for a subscription.

In Greenville, Texas, a city of about 35,000, the public library page received notice that it could add links to only two posts per month and had already used both slots. Further posting requires a Meta One subscription starting at $50 monthly. Daniel Starks, the city's communications manager, oversees nearly a dozen city Facebook pages and said more than half of city communications involve directing residents to the municipal website. He has instructed staff to place URLs in comments rather than posts and created a graphic explaining the change to followers. "When you have an official governmental entity that is trying to get out in some instances very, very, important information, and we're being paywalled by Facebook all because we're trying to post a link, that's a problem," he said.

Nonprofits report the same constraint. Bethany English, co-president of East Side Pawject in Indianapolis, was blocked from adding her website link to an event post after the group's two monthly links were used. An "expert" plan allowing 20 links costs $150 monthly. Jeff Bannister, marketing manager at SparkPoint in Transylvania County, North Carolina, called $50 for eight links "crazy" and said the return on investment "seems almost negative." David Diskin, president of California Freethought Day, was quoted $40 monthly for eight links, $119 for 20, or $399 for unlimited. His restriction was lifted this week without explanation. "It wasn't until after our big fundraiser had passed that they fixed the problem," he said.

Meta has tested paid linking for nearly a year, first through Meta Verified and now as part of Meta One plans. The $14.99 tier includes no extra link sharing, the $49.99 tier allows eight links monthly, the $149.99 tier allows 20, and the $499.99 tier offers unlimited links. A Meta spokesperson said the company is "testing whether sharing links on Facebook should be part of the Meta One subscription" and will continue to adjust based on feedback.

In an October 23, 2026 update, the spokesperson said pages must list "nonprofit" in the category section of their Facebook page for Meta's systems to recognize them as such. It remains unclear why organizations that state their status elsewhere, or that use Meta's fundraising tools, are not identified.