The patent suggests that K could plan to charge Instagram a fee for placing links in Instagram posts.

Influential people, bracket yourself: Instagram might consider charging a fee for adding links to photo caps, the patent application suggests. Mike Murphy discovered it as part of a roundup of his (interesting!) Weekly tech patents. Protocol.

The patent application, which Instagram parent company Facebook first submitted in 2016, appears a pop-up when the user adds a URL to the caption, asking if the user wants to pay 2 to make the link live.

The patent application (titled “Adding paid links to media citations to a social networking system”) describes how the system will work: Asks to pay a fee in return. “

This, of course, has long been one of the biggest complaints about Instagram: that if you want to include a link to a story, product, or anything else in your post, you can’t add a URL to a photo’s post. Most people go to the “Buy in Bio” route, and Insta users can add links to stories. The question here will be whether Instagram influencers, brands and other users are willing to pay a fee per links. But if this is implemented it seems like an ideology to generate revenue for Instagram.

However, like any patent, it is important to note that companies apply for a patent all the time for products and services that never get results, so nothing can be said about when this feature will actually happen. Maybe don’t overdo that new selfie stick yet.