It seems like Meta is taking a page out of Elon Musk's book as they announce its verification subscription that also comes with the blue check. Aside from the blue badge, users are also said to be getting the protection that comes with being "Meta Verified."
Meta's Paid Verification
The company is already testing out the feature for two of its apps, Facebook and Instagram, costing users $11.99 a month for the web and $14.99 a month for mobile. It offers increased visibility, prioritized customer support, and more.
Business accounts are still not eligible for the Meta Verified service. The increased visibility will still rely on the existing audience size of the subscriber and the topic of their post. Creators with a smaller following may see a more significant increase, according to Meta.
According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Verified will start to roll out this week, wherein the subscription will need verification using a government ID. It is said to also protect accounts against impersonation, as well as increase authenticity and security in their services.
There are requirements, of course, before you can apply for verification. Apart from the government ID, you will need to be 18 years old or above, and your government ID should match your profile photo on Facebook or Instagram.
The users who choose to subscribe will also get exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels, according to The Verge, along with 100 free stars a month and exclusive features to "express yourself in unique ways."
Meta will not support the accounts for verification if they do not have their real names in their profiles and should a user change their profile name, username, birthday, or profile photo, they will have to go through the verification process again.
The subscription service will start rolling out in Australia and New Zealand first for testing and to see what's most valuable. It will arrive in other countries soon, according to the Meta Channel on Instagram.
Similar to Twitter Blue
Meta Verification might sound familiar because it has already been done by Twitter. Twitter Blue is also a subscription service that offers its users verification to avoid impersonation and get exclusive perks. Unlike Meta Verified, Twitter offers different colors of badges for certain users.
Although it's the same in terms of the verification process and status, it's a little different when it comes to the features. For one, Twitter Blue lets its subscribers edit a tweet, but Facebook users already have that feature even before subscribing to Meta's verification service.
Twitter Blue also offers an Undo Tweet feature, wherein a user will have the option to retract a tweet after publishing it. They will be able to preview and revise the tweet within a given amount of time. When the Undo period is done, the tweet will become visible to the user's followers.
Twitter Blue is only available to those whose accounts were created 90 days prior. They will also need to confirm their phone number. Users will also have re-verify their account when they change their display name, username, and profile photo.
