Analysis of Google search data reveals that online searches for the question ‘Is Facebook Free?’ in the UK exploded 1,900% on the 28th of October, as Facebook announce the changing of their name to Meta, making global headlines.

A new finding by internet experts VPNOverview.com reveals that online interest for ‘Is Facebook Free?’ skyrocketed to 19 times the average volume in the first hour after the announcement was made.

A spokesperson for VPNOverview.com commented on the findings:

“It is fascinating to see the growing concern that Facebook users have that they will need to start paying for the social media service since the news broke.

With the outage earlier this month combined with such a drastic rebrand, customers are noticeably concerned that Facebook will no longer stick to their promise of being free to users. However, Facebook revealed earlier this year that they have earned $28 billion in ad revenue in the last year therefore showing that they aren’t needing to gain extra income from user based costs and packages. There will undoubtedly be changes to Facebook as it transitions to Meta, however users are highly unlikely to be faced with any fees.”

Google searches for Meta rose 2,400% since 7:00pm (GMT) on the 28th of October as well as searches for ‘Facebook cost’ and ‘Facebook price’ rising 163% and 185% respectively.