“It may sound a little dramatic, but the test started in the US in December and has now been introduced for a small percent of Swedish users,” Jan Fredriksson, Facebook spokesman for the Nordic offices, told the TT news agency.

The fee, which varies depending on how many subscribers or “fans” the intended recipient has, means that email senders can be sure their message has ended up in the correct inbox.

The concept was launched as a test in the US, and has since been rolled out to the UK and most recently in Sweden. A small percent of US users are charged $1 to ensure their emails end up in the right inbox, and not the oft-ignored “other” file.

However, not everyone is pleased with the news, as Facebook has long been free for users. But Fredriksson dismissed claims that Facebook was turning into a paid service.

“We’re careful to ensure that Facebook is still free. This is a part of Facebook that costs money, and we’ve provided such services before. This is, above all, still a test, we’ll see if it will be introduced more broadly,” he said.

“It’s also just for private users. Businesses won’t be able to just buy a bunch of messages.”

TT/The Local/og

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