Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has announced a paid subscription for Instagram and Facebook. It should be called Meta Verified.
Meta Verified will cost $11.99 for web users or $14.99 on iPhone.
The subscription model will be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand next week, with more countries to come.
After Twitter, Facebook’s parent company Meta also wants to test a payment model for its platforms. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new paid subscription called Meta Verified for Instagram and Facebook that will allow paying users to verify their accounts. Zuckerberg explained that for a monthly fee, Instagram and Facebook users could get a blue tick, extra protection from fake profiles, and more customer support. Apparently, paying users also have more visibility on the platforms.
Meta plans to roll out the new subscription model in Australia and New Zealand this week and “soon to more countries,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. With the new function, the group wants to increase the “authenticity and security” of its services. Meta Verified will cost $11.99 per month for web users and $14.99 per month for Apple’s iOS operating system.
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The company said when asked by Business Insider that creators who subscribe to Meta Verified also get “increased visibility and reach” in search and recommendations. Meta will use a person’s passport documents to verify user accounts, the company said.
The official announcement of Meta Verified came after social media consultant Matt Navarra tweeted Sunday about a post on Instagram’s Help Center page that seemed to hint at the new feature’s rollout soon. We viewed the post before it was removed.
The post on the help page said that subscribers could get exclusive stickers for Instagram stories. It was also read that users who have purchased Meta Verified for Instagram cannot also apply it to their Facebook account. The eligibility help page, which was also removed, stated that users must be at least 18 years of age to purchase the new subscription.
Navarra told Business Insider that it made sense for Meta to consider paid verification. “The market has already been tested by competitors, the opportunities are mostly already there and do not require much development time for this new product, and it is generating a new revenue stream at a time when most companies are facing difficult economic headwinds,” he said .
Navarra, who has advised the UK Government, added: “Snap has unlocked a new revenue stream for social media companies with Snapchat+ and Twitter with Twitter Blue. But offering verification as a paid add-on service open to everyone defeats much of its value and purpose.”
In December, Twitter launched its premium subscription, Twitter Blue, for the second time since Elon Musk took control of the company. The launch of the service, which allows users to pay for verification, sparked resistance and was temporarily halted in November after some users used the add-on to impersonate businesses and politicians.
This article has been translated from English. You can find the original here.
