this feels like they are intentionally making it cost-prohibitive

Like I mentioned in another comment - To me it seems like it’s priced relative to the market. YouTube’s premium membership is $15, but you can do a lot more on Facebook compared to YouTube (not just videos but also wall posts, messaging, photos, groups, events, dating, birthday reminders, etc) and their costs would be similar to Google in terms of data centers, servers, employees, etc.