Terry Moore, the creator of Strangers in Paradise, announced on his Terry Moore Art Facebook page that he will stop posting there after Meta capped how many images he can share for free. Moore says continuing to post his artwork at the pace his followers expect would cost him up to $500 a month.
Moore launched Strangers in Paradise through his own Abstract Studio in 1993 and has spent more than three decades publishing independently. The series won an Eisner Award, and his later books include Echo, Rachel Rising, Motor Girl, and Parker Girls. Self-publishing at that scale means his own social media pages work as his marketing department, which puts a free posting cap squarely on his bottom line.
He laid out the situation in full:
“I’m sorry my friends... For me to keep posting images to you will cost me up to $500 a month. I can’t even post the screenshot that pops up saying I can only post two links (images) a month now for free. The screen shot is a prompt that says I’ve reached my 2 link ;limit for the month and to post more I have to enter the “Meta One plan”— a payment plan starting at $15/mo for 2 more (total 4 images mo) $50/mo to post 8 drawings a month, $150 months to post 20, and $500 for unlimited art posts.
If this bothers you, your protests to Meta are useless. Instead, read my book PARKER GIRLS and see what happens to greedy billionaires who think the earth is a chessboard.
I will not post here on Facebook anymore simply because I can’t. Maybe one more post Nov 1 to show you the Meta One popup window.
Please follow me on Instagram and YouTube.”
The post drew close to 400 reactions and dozens of comments from fans within hours.
Moore’s frustration is easy to understand. An artist whose product is visual can’t do much on a platform that charges him to show it, and the limits appear to land hardest on pages run as businesses, where Meta has spent years pushing paid reach. For a one-man shop, a tiered fee for every drawing turns a free promotional tool into a monthly bill.
The Facebook exit also compounds an earlier decision. Moore already walked away from Twitter, now X, which has become the most open of the major platforms for speech and one where comic creators and readers still congregate in large numbers. Dropping both leaves him with Instagram, which Meta also owns, and YouTube. Losing two of the biggest platforms makes reaching readers harder for any independent creator, and Moore built his career on reaching readers directly.
His suggestion to fans points at Parker Girls rather than a petition, keeping the focus on the work.
Should independent creators like Terry Moore return to X as Facebook starts charging for reach, or is the smarter play to build an email list and stop relying on any platform at all?
He could post those pictures to Substack and his many fans would probably follow him.
Facebook has changed, and not for the best, since the early days where you could follow your friends and keep up to date on their lives as they posted. Meta killed that one when they first changed the timeline and changed who people followed.