Meta Now Allows You to Buy the Verified Blue Checkmark for Instagram and Facebook

Keeping with its theme of being unoriginal, Meta has copied Twitter Blue and is rolling paid blue badges which is the Meta Verified subscription service that gives you a verified checkmark next to your username on either Facebook or Instagram.

It’s going to cost you $15 per month on iOS and Android or $12 on the web. Besides getting the blue checkmark, Meta Verified will give you access to proactive impersonation protection with direct access to customer support(live chat), and increased reach on comments, search and explore page.

Meta Verified, the platforms paid blue badge subscription service for Instagram and Facebook could generate the company $1.7B in revenue and land nearly 12 million subscribers by next year. https://t.co/8RLgYLPGwz

— Techweez (@techweez) February 22, 2023

Its ad business has been taking a hit thanks to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency on iOS which limits Meta’s ability to track users’ online activities to serve them personalized ads.

To be eligible for Meta Verified, you will have to be 18 and older. Meta will require you to have to show them your government-issued ID which matches the profile name on your Instagram or Facebook profile name. and photo.

You will not be able to change any other details such as your photo, username or date of birth after you’re verified with the new subscription service.

Meta has said that originally verified people will keep their badges for now. The platforms paid blue badge subscription service for Instagram and Facebook could generate the company $1.7B in revenue and land nearly 12 million subscribers by next year.

It’ll also be interesting to see if we’ll get different coloured verified badges as Twitter does and if there’ll be a text indicating that this account is verified as it is subscribed to Meta Verified.

Meta is testing out its paid blue badge service in Australia and New Zeeland before rolling it out to other countries.

The value proposition is just so odd. Like, I happily pay for YouTube Premium for marginally more than Twitter Blue would cost bc it saves me hours of watching ads a month and *also* doubles as music streaming. What do Twitter/FB even offer beyond less broken apps?

— Nick Duffy (@NickMDuffy) February 19, 2023

I think the instagram verification suggests that social networks are in serious trouble as far as revenue goes. Targeting is becoming harder to do technologically/legally. They’re desperate to find new sources. The result will be a small bump in rev and pissed off customers

— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) February 19, 2023

What does this mean for everyday people? Social media isn’t really for keeping up with your friends and family anymore. It’s for being entertained by professional content creators. Get your good friends a group chat if you haven’t already.

— Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) February 19, 2023

How is this not a perverse incentive? Social media has now figured out that they do not need to "solve" scammers/impersonators, rather they can offload the problem to their users and monetize it directly.

Now, the more scammers they have the better for them.

— Joseph Carlson (@joecarlsonshow) February 19, 2023

Wait… actually providing value for the paying folks? With real id checks? With additional account security? With support access?
That’s all things people mentioned that they sincerely wanted… https://t.co/mA3TwZXwIf

— Martin Lechner (@m4nl5r) February 19, 2023

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