Facebook starts charging for sending texts to celebrities

Social networking giant Facebook has started charging its British users up to 10 pounds to send messages to celebrities and people who are not in friend's list.

Social networking giant Facebook has started charging its British users up to 10 pounds to send messages to celebrities and people who are not in friend's list.

The site said the move aims to stop users being bombarded with messages from strangers.

Those who want to contact a non-friends can now either pay a fee of around 71p to send the message directly to a person's inbox along with an automatic alert, or send the message for free to a less visible folder.

Facebookers can still communicate with friends and people with whom they share mutual friends for free, the Independent reports.

According to the paper, users can pay the fee online instantly with a credit or debit card, but under-18s are barred from doing so.

They are also blocked from receiving unsolicited messages.