The internet is full of hoax after hoax and fake story after fake story that millions of people end up falling for and believing. Some get a kick out of it and find it humorous when their little ruse ends up going viral, but it happens more often than one may think. What happens even more often is repeated trickery, and the Facebook Privacy Notice hoax is making the rounds again, with people believing that posting a status will keep them from having to pay a fee.
No, there is not a fee to use Facebook as of this time, so they price grid you’re reading about on the status updates of many friends is not real.
The Facebook Privacy Notice hoax has been around for years now, and everyone keeps falling for it and recycling it around social media. This time, there is actual pricing thrown into the status update, as apparently the new “price grid” has been released by Facebook so you know what you’ll pay for each level.
Please let it be known that there are no plans for Facebook to charge for their website use as of now and the social media giant has not had pricing released. No matter what you read about this, it is not true.
Put some trust in knowing that if Facebook actually chose to charge for their services, it would be a major thing with a big-time announcement. There would also be somewhere on the site to go and look at this “official” information, but at this time, there isn’t.
Here is a version of the status update that many are posting in hopes of avoiding the Facebook charges that will soon be implemented.
“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. 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.”
Let’s dissect this to see just how false it actually is.
- What exactly are the services offered for gold, silver, and bronze?
- It’s hard to know exactly what “tonight” is when these kinds of status updates have been around for years.
- When was it on te news, exactly?
- Your Facebook icon isn’t going to turn blue. Seriously, it isn’t.
- It’s hard to believe something that is written so poorly.
Snopeshas been warning about these Facebook subscription feehoaxes for close to eight years now, and it doesn’t seem as if they are ever going to stop. Originally, it began with the status updates saying Facebook would charge everyone $4.99 to use the service.
Over the years, the wording has been altered a little bit or things have been changed, but they all have one thing in common — they’re fake.
The Facebook Privacy Notice is seen as “completely pointless and misleading” by Hoax-Slayer , and they’re totally accurate on that. The problem is that many people find it easier to believe it, copy it, and paste it instead of looking for any validity in it.
The celebrity death hoax is one of the more popular tricks to be pulled on social media, but those thinking they have to pay for Facebook is a close second. Mark Zuckerberg could charge for the website if he wanted to, but he hasn’t chosen to go that route as of yet. He’s also not giving you millions of dollars for copying and pasting a status. That being said, the Facebook Privacy Notice hoax and price grid also aren’t realities so stop worrying.
[Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images]