Does the Lg chocolate touch cost for using the soc network msg feature? or extra a month?

The phone I had broke and got discontinued so the insurance company sent me the lg chocolate touch as a replacement phone but after reading reviews on it I guess you have to pay 9.99$ extra a month for the data plan, however the lady I spoke to over the phone didn't aware me of this and my Verizon account online is locked so I can't check, but if anyone knows if it costs extra to use the social network msg feature or if I have to pay $9.99 even though I didn't buy it, it would help a lot!