Facebook has poured cold water on claims that it is to start charging members to use the website.
Two groups on the social network have almost 200,000 members between them who believe Facebook intends to charge about £14.99 a month for use of the site from July this year.
However, speaking to the Telegraph, a spokesman for Facebook said that these users' concerns are unfounded.
"We have no plans to charge users for Facebook's basic services. Facebook is a free service for its 350 million users," he stated.
It is believed that speculation over whether Facebook will charge for access to its network first arose over a hoax email spreading the rumour.
Facebook generates a significant portion of its revenue through advertising on its pages.
It offers a number of different formats, including standard display ads and more interactive ones that encourage users to undertake what Facebook calls "social actions".
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, recently said at the Crunchie Awards in San Francisco that the rise of social networking has led to a decrease in users' expectations over the level of privacy they require on the web.
This is because people are now more comfortable with sharing information about themselves with a range of other users, he claimed.
