Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has announced the launch of a paid subscription service that will allow users to pay for a blue tick verification badge. The new service, called Meta Verified, will cost $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 for iPhone users, and will be available in Australia and New Zealand from this week.
The move is aimed at improving security and authenticity on the social media apps, according to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta. The subscription service will give users a blue tick badge, increased visibility of their posts, protection from impersonators, and easier access to customer service. The company said that the change will not affect previously verified accounts, but will increase visibility for some smaller users who become verified through the paid feature.
Badges, also known as blue ticks, have been used as verification tools for high-profile accounts to signify their authenticity. Meta has stated that Instagram and Facebook usernames will have to match a government supplied ID document to be granted verification, and users will have to have a profile picture that includes their face.
Meta’s paid subscription service is not yet available for businesses, but any individual can pay for verification. The company has not yet specified when the feature will be rolled out to other countries, but Zuckerberg said in a post that it would be “soon”.
It is worth noting that other websites like Reddit, YouTube, and Discord also use subscription-based models. However, allowing paying users access to a blue tick has previously caused trouble for other social media platforms. Twitter’s pay-for-verification feature was paused in November 2022 when people started impersonating big brands and celebrities by paying for the badge.
In November 2022, Meta announced 11,000 job losses as a result of over-investment during the Covid-19 pandemic. Zuckerberg had predicted an increase in Meta’s growth based on the rise it had over the pandemic, but that ultimately did not happen. He said that “macroeconomic downturn” and “increased competition” caused revenue to be much lower than expected. At the time, he took responsibility for the mistake and vowed to make changes to address the issue.
Comments are closed.