Metas tests paid verification for Instagram and Facebook for $11.99 per month on web and $14.99 per month on mobile. In an update on Instagram, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that a “Meta Verified” account will give users a verified badge, increased visibility on the platforms, prioritized customer support, and more. The feature is rolling out to Australia and New Zealand this week and will arrive in more countries “soon”.
“This week we begin rolling out Meta Verified – a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get instant access to customer support,” Zuckerberg writes. “This new feature is about increasing the authenticity and security of our services.”
To apply to become Meta Verified, you must meet the minimum activity requirements, be at least 18 years of age or older, and provide government-issued ID that matches the name and photo you have on Facebook or Instagram. The new offering is very similar to Elon Musk’s $8 a month version of Twitter Blue, but Meta notes that it won’t make changes to accounts verified using the company’s previous requirements, including notability and authenticity.
In addition, users who sign up for the service get exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels, as well as 100 free stars per month, or the digital currency you can use to tip creators on Facebook. Meta notes that companies cannot yet apply for a Meta Verified badge and you cannot change your profile name, username, date of birth or profile picture without going through the verification process all over again.
When the service launches in Australia and New Zealand this week, it will cost $19.99 AUD on web and $24.99 AUD on mobile, or $23.99 NZD on web and $29.99 NZD on mobile. The higher cost on iOS and Android is likely a way to offset the commission both Apple and Google take for in-app purchases.
Rumors about the service first surfaced earlier this month when a report from TechCrunch shared credentials to paid verification in Instagram’s source code. Social media consultant Matt Navarra posted later which looks like a paid verification support page on the Australian or New Zealand version of Instagram.
With that said, it’s hard to ignore the parallels between Meta’s new checkmark subscription and Twitter Blue, which Musk relaunched months ago. However, it seems that Meta is taking account authentication a bit more seriously, as it still requires users to submit government IDs (as the old Twitter verification process did) and supposedly offers extra safeguards against fake accounts, though we still don’t know what they are. Let’s hope it doesn’t cause the deluge of fake verified accounts we saw on Twitter last year.
