Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is launching a paid verification service that will give their users a blue checkmark.
“This week we’re starting to roll 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 direct access to customer support,” Mark Zuckerberg broadcasted on Instagram.
The bundled service for Instagram and Facebook starts at $11.99 a month and $14.99 as an in-app purchase on iOS, which takes into account the 30% that Apple takes for its service. Meta Verified is rolling out in Australia and New Zealand first with “more countries soon.”
Meta Verified is propped up to be catering to social media creators giving them “more protection from impersonation with proactive account monitoring for impersonators who might target people with growing online audiences.”
Another advantage of the service is “help when you need it with access to a real person for common account issues.” The service also promises “increased visibility and reach with prominence” in search, comments and recommendations within the platform.
For now, Meta says that no changes to the legacy accounts with verified badges adding that “long term, we want to build a subscription offering that’s valuable to everyone, including creators, businesses and our community at large.”
Meta Verified comes after Elon Musk made a similar move to give blue badges to users that subscribe to Twitter Blue. The difference between Meta and Twitter’s approach is that the latter service doesn’t use an ID to verify its users.