Facebook Closes the Door on Incentivized Likes

Facebook has updated their Platform Policies to exclude a popular marketing technique coined like-gating, which requires users to 'Like' your page before they can see your content or use an app. Some forms also include having users 'like' your page in order to be entered into a contest or receive a coupon for service. Although Facebook encouraged the practice at one time, it's being banned because they want likes to happen organically and not because of artificial incentives.

Here's what Facebook officials had to say about the change in policy:

“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.”