Facebook now charges weekly to use their site
 

First I've heard of this. They are now billing Thailand a weekly charge to their phones. It's only around .30 a week, but if you don't pay it they won't let you access your account.

They have been locking accounts and making you use a new security system. This is part of the new system. They send you a code and say if you want to keep using it, they give you 7 days free then you are billed weekly.

Enjoy. :1orglaugh

That's why i didn't move to Thailand

Coming soon to the entire world. You didn't think they would just be free forever did you?

Facebook will never cost money to use... it is the words straight from mark zuckerberg's mouth. :error

i will pay one time...to access my account and delete it
ill even pay the extortion fee they will charge to delete it..lol

This rumor takes flight every few Weeks lol

http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/fbcharge.asp

They aren't going to charge 30 cents a week when they can charge so much more making you the product.

Although maybe they will in third world countries when they can't monetize users because nobody wants to advertise to them. That's the only way I can see that happening.

Wrong.

They didn't say anything about the level of services like SNOPES says, but they are now charging people every week to use it. I'm one of those people they just tried to get money from.

doubt it has anything to do with facebook, more like the kingdom trying to tie real people to their accounts.

facebook makes money hand over first with how things are now.

No screenshots?

I know none of you read Thai, but this is what they sent. It says to reply back with F and the code, and they will send you an access code to enter into facebook if you want to use the security system. They will charge you 9 baht a week but the first 7 days are free.

Buuuuuuut, they will lock your account first then you have to do this, so it's not an option.

http://i2.lulzimg.com/fcc773af34.jpg

you should start charging people here for giving them correct and sensible answers to their mysteries and world problems.. :1orglaugh

What does 9 baht work out to compared to say the minimum wage in Thailand (trying to put in perspective what they're trying to charge). And is that setup to automatically recur?
WG

dammit, does that mean the prices for lady drinks will go up???

Thailand can't even keep the internet from shutting off when it rains. They are not going to be able to muscle facebook into charging people weekly for service. That would first be admitting that a foreigner created something that is important to the Thais, which they would never admit. You've never seen insane nationalism until you've witnessed these people in full swing.

If anything, this is how they are going to monetize markets they can't sell ads to.

That's just over $1 USD a month. Not a back breaker by any means, but the average pay here is around $200 - $300 a month, depending on where you live. More if you're in a big city like Bangkok and less if you are a farmer in Udon Thani.

It's very common in Asia for phones to be used to pay for just about anything, and recurring too. The Thais pay to download mp3 songs all the time, as well as ring tones and photos. They will pay this fee for facebook without thinking about it.

well since there is zero information about this anywhere on the internet and this is a newsworthy story if true, something stinks here.

if true someone is getting between facebook and it's users. very unlikely that facebook is charging anything.

i know you see scams everywhere and the worse motives and outcomes for everything but that is largely a projection of your personality, not reality.

definitely Facebook requesting payment or someone who has sucked all the phone numbers of Facebook users out of an app and is now seeing how many people they can rip off?

Did you learn Thai before or after you moved there? How long did it take?

better start saving up now :winkwink:

that would be my guess btw

Any Android app with android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE allowed can help itself to a lot of things.

they lose cash on mobile surfers for now, but they will not charge for access, it can be baypassed i am sure

I read at a kindergarten level. Speaking I'm probably in grade school.

Usually I can communicate OK and understand what is going on but I'm faaaaaaaaar from fluent. And that is just because I have not applied myself to be so. If I buckled down I could get it fairly quick as my vocabulary is very large, I just have problems putting it all together in proper form and hitting the correct tones.

I've never used an app and they asked for the number. It wasn't a default warning where they had it and just sent me a message. I had to add in the number to be sent the SMS.

I declined to pay and re-added my Skype number (US number) to have them call me. Then I got a normal code and my account was unlocked. So it seems it's just a foreign thing for now.

Your phone may have been hacked or someone is scamming you man.

The Thai alphabet looks really cool. Sorry for the lame contribution, hehe.

I wonder if it is the wireless company that is charging you for the data transfer

There has to be far more money in selling advertising than charging people peanuts to use the app. Even in a third world shithole with less desirable advertising opportunities. This and the lack of sources for this info means it cannot be true.

I believe you.

:1orglaugh

Then i stop using it. Simple.

I wasn't using mobile access. Only use it online. I only had to enter my phone number for their standard security check. I've been through it a few times on other accounts, no problem. Only tonight came across this one.

Go look through their support issues, seems to be a common problem that is not getting resolved. Some people are wanting to cancel the billing but don't know how. Appears to be all Asians.

It isn't in English news for non Thai speakers to read so it can't be true. Good logic. :winkwink:

You see the image above. That came directly from Facebook.

And no, I doubt there is much adverting opportunity on Facebook for Thais. They don't consume online like westerners do. Very few have credit cards. It's mostly an SMS, ATM payment, and cash society.

No, that's not the same thing. It had nothing to do with any payment plan like what was suggested. And besides, this came directly from Facebook.

Go translate that image.

no point is they will NEVER charge for service. you are probably getting scammed somehow.

when you read about monetizing fb asian markets there is zero reference to user fees. nothing.

For those clearly missing it... this came FROM Facebook after submitting my number to them for the random security check they do from time to time. I gave my number to facebook (in my computer browser) and they sent me this seconds later.

http://i2.lulzimg.com/fcc773af34.jpg

If this is true I would think that there would be a lot of Westerners discussing the potential future ramifications of this on Facebook itself, Reddit, 4Chan and the other usual spots where online discussions, debates and memes get started. Maybe Thailand is the first place they are trying this and it is so new that most Westerners don't know about it yet?

I also would think that there are plenty of advertising opportunities to advertise various products and services that accept payment in SMS, debits & cash in Thailand to Thai people. You know the usual broad mainstream advertisers like cell phone services and many others. Just like in Noth America, there has to be more money in selling ads given what must be milions and millions of page impressions each day even in a country like Thailand than there is in charging mostly poor people to use Facebook in that country.

It looks like they have a different word for everything, I wonder how they get anything done?

.

Unless someone hacked facebook and tried to phish my phone number from inside facebook, only to try send me a security code which I would reply to, get access back and be billed, then this is true.

Based on what I just went through to get my account unlocked, I believe it 100% to be true. And I also believe this is going to be big news really soon.

It's possibly they are testing it on select markets first. Maybe even select accounts in select markets. The amount is so small, who wouldn't pay for it? $1 a month is cheap. Only a buck from every Asian user would make them rich beyond anything they could ever imagine.

Those are sounds. And yea, it's crazy. Very tonal and sing-song like.

You. :)

create a blogger blog. write out your experience with screenshot. put adsense on it.

tweet the post at all the big tech news sites like techcrunch, wired and so on. email them your blog post as well.

see what happens.

:1orglaugh I meant the locals.

I'm not paying for it because I can get it for free if I use my USA phone number. But if I had no choice, $1 is worth it.

They charged India too?

The principals of FB already rich beyond what they ever imagined! Seriously though if true, this is going to be interesting to see the reaction here in North America if they even consider trying it here. I believe the culture of free is so pervasive now that people would be up in arms over the idea of paying even a token $1/month for FB and they would go way out of their way to not do so. It would certainly create an opportunity for a similar site that doesn't charge to displace FB the same way that FB displaced MySpace.

They won't be charging basic users in first world countries, but expect an announcement about charging brands. Perhaps they'll charge third world users for basic use, as these people mainly just consume bandwidth

That's a bit confusing, not much english info about it but looking at google translate it seems more like some kind of optional sms service, not mandatory. http://www.truemove.com/th/service-vas-facebooksms.htm ?