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Facebook Bans The “Like Gate;” Pages Have 90 Days To Comply

Martin Beck on August 8, 2014 at 2:51 pm

Facebook has killed the “like gate.”

In an update to its Platform Policy this week, the social network said it will no longer allow Pages to require a user to Like a Page to gain access to content, contests, apps or rewards. The new policy will take effect on Nov. 5, when any existing like gate will be disabled. Any app created between now and then will not be able to create a like gate.

Here’s Facebook’s explanation of the change:

You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, checkin at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.

Like gating was a common Facebook fan-building tactic in years past, but has largely fallen out of favor as marketers concentrate on engaging with the fans they have. Diminishing organic reach for Page posts has also somewhat reduced the value of each new fan.

Facebook will still allow the creation of incentives, just not those that require a user to Like a page to gain access to content. Below are example of two forbidden incentives and one allowed from an imaginary app (click to enlarge):