It appears that Meta-owned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram will follow in the footsteps of Twitter by offering paid verification.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Sunday in a post in the Meta Channel on Instagram that Meta Verified would roll out this week. Its starting price is $11.99 per month on web and $14.99 per moth on iOS.
Zuckerberg described the feature as “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 direct access to customer support.”
He said Meta Verified will be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand this week, with more countries to follow.
“Some of the top requests we get from creators are for broader access to verification and account support, in addition to more features to increase visibility and reach,” said a Meta blog post from Sunday. “Since last year, we’ve been thinking about how to unlock access to these features through a paid offering.”
After Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased Twitter late last year, that social media platform also began offering a paid verification feature through its Twitter Blue subscription.
“Twitter Blue is an opt-in, paid subscription that adds a blue checkmark to your account and offers early access to select features, like Edit Tweet,” said Twitter. “Subscribe now with localized pricing starting at $8/month or $84/year in available countries to get the blue checkmark in addition to early access to features.”
According to the company, “only Twitter accounts created more than 90 days ago can sign up for Twitter Blue,” and “all Twitter Blue subscribers will be required to confirm their phone number as part of sign up.”
Unlike Meta, Twitter does not mention a government ID requirement for verification.
“Until now, Twitter used the blue checkmark to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements,” said Twitter. “Now the blue checkmark may mean two different things: either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria (active and authentic), or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue.”
Twitter has also released different colored checkmark badges for different types of accounts. Earlier this month Audacy reported on information that indicated Twitter would charge $1,000 per moth for gold business badges. Musk has also said that he plans to “sunset” the legacy verified badges.
Up until the Meta Verified announcement, verified badges on Meta sites signaled that an account had been confirmed as an “authentic presence of the creator, public figure, celebrity, or global brand it represents.”
“Our verification team vets all requests thoroughly and bases their review on a number of inputs to determine whether an account is eligible to be verified,” the company said.
While Meta did not announce plans to sunset its legacy verified badges, its blog post did indicate that more changes could be coming.
“As we test and learn, there will be no changes to accounts on Instagram and Facebook that are already verified based on prior requirements, including authenticity and notability,” said the post. “Long term, we want to build a subscription offering that’s valuable to everyone, including creators, businesses and our community at large. As part of this vision, we are evolving the meaning of the verified badge so we can expand access to verification and more people can trust the accounts they interact with are authentic.”
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