CREDIT OR DEBIT

Facebook Tests Pay-Per-Message

It could cost you $1 to send messages to non-friends.

Your stalking habit is about to get expensive. Facebook is testing a new system that would charge users $1 to send messages to people outside their immediate friend group. The company said in a statement that “imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful.” The new method would route messages past the “Other” folder and directly into main inboxes. The announcement comes a few months after the social-media site started testing a service allowing users to “promote” their posts at the top of their friends’ newsfeeds—for a $7 fee.