Sam Amico
Now you can for the right to be annoyed by people you barely know on Facebook and Instagram.
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OK, that’s not really what’s going on here — but it is true that the social media giants are indeed starting a pay-for-verification subscription service, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram.
The new service is called “Meta Verified,” with Meta being the name of the company that oversees Facebook and Instagram. It will begin rolling out in New Zealand and Australia this week. More countries will be added soon, Zuckerberg said.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in an Instagram broadcast channel.
Mark Zuckerberg Announces Paid Features for Facebook and Instagram
The service will start at $11.99 per week on web browsers or $14.99 a month on iOS. It will allow users to add a blue badge to their account by providing a government ID that matches their profile name and picture. (Only 18 and older are eligible.)
Some accounts, of course, are already verified — and Meta said there will be changes to those.
In case you’re wondering, this is Zuckerberg’s way of ripping off Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter and immediately began charging for verification. It’s proved to be profitable for Twitter, or at least more profitable than giving away verification for free.
“We are evolving the meaning of the blue badge to focus on authenticity so we can expand verification access to more people,” a Meta spokesperson said, via CNN. “We will display follower count in more places so people can distinguish which accounts are notable public figures among accounts that share the same name.”
