Is Facebook REALLY about to start charging YOU to keep your account PRIVATE?

Posts ares priding across Facebook which claim the social site is set to start charging users

A RUMOUR Facebook is planning to charge its users for privacy is SWEEPING the hugely successful social network, but is there any truth to it?

 

A panic is spreading across social media over a rumour Facebook is on the verge of CHARGING users for privacy.

Facebook users are sharing a message, like chain mail, which suggests users will be asked to pay £5.99 to keep their profile pages private.

One reader sent multiple examples of the viral message to NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com

 

The fear-mongering status reads, "Now it's official! It has been published in the media.

Facebook has just released the entry price: £5.99 to the keep the subscription of your status to be set to private

Facebook User

"Facebook has just released the entry price: £5.99 to the keep the subscription of your status to be set to private."

The post goes on to say that the only way to avoid the charge is to re-post the message, which contains a number of faux-legal terms and references to Facebook privacy policy.

"Pursuant to articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal data drawings, paintings, photos, video, texts etc published on my page."

An example of the chain-mail-like Facebook posts being shared across the hugely successful website

The posts claim Facebook is thinking of charging £5.99 to make profiles private

 

However the copy-and-paste message is part of an elaborate hoax sweeping the social media website.

Facebook is – and always will be – free to use, a spokesperson reiterated.

Speaking to NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com, a spokesperson for the US technology firm said: "As stated on the login screen, Facebook is free and always will be.”

 

Some Facebook users may think it's a good job they aren't paying for the service after the site crashed yesterday for the third time in a month.

The Facebook app and and website both went offline for over an hour last night, causing chaos across the globe.

When trying to log in to the social network, users were faced with an error message that read "Sorry, something went wrong.

"We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can."

The company's status page detailed a "major outage", but things are now back to normal.