The tagline has been changed from “It’s free and always will be” to “It’s quick and easy.” According to Business Insider, who traced the switch using internet archive Wayback Machine, said that the change has happened sometime between August 6 and 7. Due to its free-to-use, advertising-funded business model, Facebook does not charge its users for joining the service. However, the data collected from the users are sold to companies to help direct marketing and products to certain audiences. “Facebook is not free nor has it ever been,” lawyer and digital law expert Jose Antonio Castillo told Business Insider while commenting on the slogan change. “Facebook’s currency was and still is its users’ personal data. It’s never been free, though, because data is worth a lot of money.” Castillo also suspects that the change may have something to do with a directive from the European Union (EU) that recognizes exchanging data as a form of payment. Even though Facebook’s original slogan was “It’s free and it always will be,” the social media platform never really meant it. According to Business Insider, Section 7 (Things You Should Know) Clause 11 of Facebook’s Platform Policy, contains a disclaimer clause that warns: “We don’t guarantee that Platform will always be free.” Facebook has yet to comment or provide any explanation for the change.
