Facebook is preparing to block fanpages advertising cars for sale due to many people being scammed.

In a bold move, Meta - Facebook's parent company - announced that starting January 30, 2023, it will no longer allow car (and real estate) business pages to post for free. This new policy does not affect personal accounts participating in Facebook Marketplace.

From next year, car dealerships' Facebook pages will no longer be free to advertise cars as they are now. Photo: Meta

According to Meta's announcement, all car sale posts on car dealership Facebook pages will be deleted after January 30, 2023. Users are advised to download these car sale posts to save before that date. Meta will also remove the "Vehicles" and "Inventory" sections on business Facebook pages.

Facebook users have frequently complained about being bombarded with sales spam from fake accounts, or cheap car ads designed to attract attention. Meta's decision to clean up "spam" or deliberately misleading ads from Facebook Marketplace, or at least reduce the number, will steer professional sellers toward paid advertising products.

This marks a 180-degree shift in the company’s strategy regarding its automotive business. In 2017, the Facebook Marketplace e-commerce model was updated with an inventory feature, aiming to increase the total number of cars for sale.

With the change, employees and owners of car dealerships can still post ads for cars for sale, but must use their personal accounts. Meta said it will "continue to invest in innovative solutions" based on the needs of car businesses, while assuring customers that "the ability to reach potential customers through advertising" will not change./.