"Facebook is charging" rumors

[Guest123_x1]

Anyone else other than me sick and tired of the chain status updates posted by people on Facebook claiming that "Facebook will start charging for access" because "of the new profile changes" (and other ridiculous reasons)?
Recently there has been a wave of such posts.

As Facebook's logon home page says:

It's free and always will be.

Some of these posts even have the gall to disclose a price list and others claim that "it was even on the news"!
Nearly all of them tell you to copy and paste them to your status so that "your icon will turn blue" and "your account will stay free", and that if you don't pay, "your account will be deleted"!

Here are examples of recent posts that have been circulating, the first one about a supposed "price grid":

Spoiler:

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES

Here's one that has the gall to claim "it was even on the news". UGH!:

IT IS OFFICIAL. IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON, IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY

Here's yet another one, which is a bit satirical:

On September 31st, 2011 Facebook will start charging you for your account. To avoid this, you MUST get NAKED, use a PERMANENT marker pen and write on your forehead the word S-U-C-K-E-R, and then stand on your dining room table and do the Macarena, all the while singing I Will Survive. After filming and posting it to your Facebook wall and YouTube, then, and only then, will Mark Zuckerberg come down your chimney to tell you that your account will stay free. Pass it on, it must be true because someone on Facebook I hardly know told me.

Come on people! September only has 30 days!

Here is the official statement from Facebook's official "like" page:

A rumor on the internet caught our attention. We have no plans to charge for Facebook. It's free and always will be.

Here is what WJBK Fox 2 in Detroit had to say on their Facebook page:

FACEBOOK IS NOT CHARGING. If you have heard this rumor, it is NOT true. Facebook makes BILLIONS in advertising and, if they charged people, they would lose so many of their users they would kill themselves. If you have heard this stupid rumor, or know someone who keeps trying to insist it is true, tell them it is ridiculous.

Thing is, if Facebook was really going to start charging for access, then every major news outlet would be reporting on it like mad (like they did with the Duke lacrosse case).

 

[deoxys121]

Not the first time a charging rumor has popped up, and won't be the last either. I saw that update from Fox 2 Detroit on Facebook, as well. I live in apparently the same general area as you (Flat Rock, MI, it's in the metro-Detroit area), so we can relate on certain stories that pop up.

What people could try to do with these rumors is try to scam people out of their money claiming that it's the only way to not have your account deleted, directing them to fake payment sites directing the money straight to their PayPal account.

 

[Karasuma]

This annoying rumor has been spreading like crazy, its all about using your logic.

Fact 1: Facebook can't charge you money unless you have given them your cellphone, credit card, or other account number.

Fact 2: If facebook is going to start charging money then they would inform all the users about it, probably constantly for a couple months before they impliment it.

Fact 3: Facebook is already making plenty of money through advertisers and info farming. If they start charging $ they will lose $$$$.

September 31st...they said the same thing for February 30th. xD

 

[Hybrid Trainer]

I have yet to be bombarded by some of these rumors but I think Karasuma pretty much summed it up in three points.
But just to add to them, even though Facebook looks like it ignores its users demands it wouldn't still be going if it did. And the reaction to the new layout and the release of Google+ would kill off Facebook if it decided to begin charging.

 

[Zet]

not true https://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/fbcharge.asp

Thanks for posting what we already know. We couldn't have known without you :)

This rumor reminds me of the time of mass emails saying Microsoft is going to start charging users for msn.

 

[Guest123_x1]

This rumor reminds me of the time of mass emails saying Microsoft is going to start charging users for msn.

It's also similar to rumors spread about certain online services, such as MySpace, being "too crowded" and that "your account will be deleted" if you didn't forward the message to a certain amount of people or take some other crazy action.
I've also heard chain bulletin rumors of MySpace going to charge its users for access, and I wouldn't be surprised if this same thing starts up on Google+ sometime now that it has been opened to the general public and as it grows in membership.

A more detailed report from FOX2:
https://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/ne...-hoax-spreads-across-the-internet-20110926-dk

About.com's Urban Legends site:
https://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2011/09/23/facebook-to-start-charging-hoax.htm

Report from Facecrooks.com, a Facebook watchdog site:
https://facecrooks.com/Safety-Cente...RGING-DUE-TO-THE-NEW-PROFILE-CHANGES-NOT.html

Also, an explanation of "Gold Memership" trolling (that includes posting images saying that "This Image requires a Facebook Gold Account", and the like):
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gold-membership-trolling#.ToEaZNRy3rc

 

[Cherrim]

This stuff used to go around as chain emails way back when the whole world used Hotmail, too. Luckily I haven't seen anyone on my FB list spamming this around... not that I check it very much... but still. I used to dread sitting friends down and explaining to them calmy to stop emailing me those kinds of things because there was no way it was true (and, if it was true, no way the parent company would give a damn if you ~copy and pasted~ the message around and give you a free account).

I was hoping the internet had grown up and we were done with this sort of thing.

 

[Archer]

I'm beginning to wonder whether the people who are blunt enough to fall for this are worth keeping as friends.

People never stop to think "oh, this copypaste text looks as though a 3-year-old wrote it - is it really legit?" Or are the majority of people just oblivious to what looks "official"?

Pleading Muphrey's Law, should I make a mistake while bagging out other people's grammar.

 

[~VladKun~]

Seriously, the other day, a friend of mine put it as one of their statuses and I asked if they believed it to be true, they didn't, so why the hell did they put it as their status?!

Honestly! :\

 

[Shining Raichu]

Oh my God, these things are so annoying. What goes through people's minds to make people think "oh, if I re-post this status, Facebook will stay free for me!" Seriously, you have to be as dumb as a box of hair to believe that. Unfortunately I think as long as people are stupid enough to believe it, it'll keep popping up every few months like it has for the past few years.

 

[deoxys121]

People are also making statuses in a kind of smart-alec retaliation to the rumor posts. Here's one that I reposted.

Tomorrow, Facebook will change its privacy settings to allow Zombies to come into your house while you sleep and eat your brains with a sharpened spoon. To stop this from happening, go to Account> Home Invasion Settings> Cannibalism> Brains, and unclick the "Tasty" box. IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. ZOMBIES WILL EAT YOUR GULLIBLE BRAINS. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND ZOMBIES WILL NOT KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOU WILL BE ZOMBIE CHOW lol..

 

[Spinor]

[This part of the post is hidden due to specialized content. You must have a The PokéCommunity ™ GOLD © Account to view it]

It's actually quite fun to take advantage of the foolishness of people. I mean, their fault they can't critically think.

 

[Kura]

Seems like every other part of the internet is doing it..

AHEM..

"[This part of the post is hidden due to specialized content. You must have a The PokéCommunity ™ GOLD © Account to view it]"


Cough..



Though I don't believe it, I can see them doing micro-transactions for certain other apps or even video/ mass photo (5cents to upload 100 photos, etc) uploading someday in the future.

 

[Taemin]

Reminds me of when people on Myspace would freak out and pass around all the "TOM IS GOING TO MASS DELETE ALL OF OUR ACCOUNTS IF ________ AND THIS IS WHY".

Lame.

It's a bit sad that so many people believe it. >_>
Unless it comes straight from the Facebook staff, people should learn to ignore it.

 

[Meganium]

Ugh, this is one of the reasons I'm starting to hate Facebook. 20 of my friends started posting "FACEBOOK IS CHARGING. IF YOU REPOST THIS, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL STAY FREE." wall posts on my timeline, and it's just annoying. I just wanna like.. slap everyone for doing that. lol. Facebook always say it's going to be free, and will stay free. The only thing we can believe is Facebook itself confirming this.

 

[Guest123_x1]

20 of my friends started posting "FACEBOOK IS CHARGING. IF YOU REPOST THIS, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL STAY FREE." wall posts on my timeline, and it's just annoying. I just wanna like.. slap everyone for doing that.

Reminds me of another recent chain status update posting by several of my "friends" (mostly those who had children, and at least one of them constantly copies and pastes chain status updates) about Gerber recalling banana baby food because glass was supposedly found in the product. While there was a recent case of glass found in banana baby food, it was only in France*. Here is an example:

URGENT!!! For all parents, Nestle is asking for everyone to return all GERBER BANANA BABY FOOD expiring 2012 because they contain glass. Please copy and paste for all babies safety. Batch code 7613033089 73, even if you're not a parent please copy you could save a baby

Snopes' explanation of what the baby food recall was really all about: https://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/babyfood.asp .

*There have been incidents of glass found in Gerber's baby food products in the past, most notably in 1986 and again in 1993. For more information, see https://www.pillowrock.com/ronnie/gerber.htm .

 

[Binary]

20 of my friends started posting "FACEBOOK IS CHARGING. IF YOU REPOST THIS, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL STAY FREE." wall posts on my timeline, and it's just annoying. I just wanna like.. slap everyone for doing that. lol.

lol, this.

I just laughed at everyone who posted this and let it go. It's a bit ridiculous really. Not to mention, all chain status updates are ridiculous. :B

 

[Impo]

Just for the troll I'm going to put this as my facebook dp

...heheh, I wonder what happen

 

[Masterge77]

I remember back in 2009, Youtube users started sprading a chain letter that Youtube would close down in December 2009. This is basically the same thing here, and I bet sometime next year, there will be a chain letter on DeviantART saying that the DA admins would permaban everyone on the site who doesn't have a Premium Membership.

Face it, Facebook would never do something like that, they have already made billions of dollars already in the past two years, it's ridiculous!

 

[JakeyBoy]

That time of year again, eh?