Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, have announced the introduction of a paid verification service that would grant blue tick badges on profiles.
The social media update would be primarily aimed at content creators looking to expand their presence on the platforms and could see adjustments after a test phase.
Meta has revealed its premium membership plan for users to become verified. On the Web, the subscription costs $11.99 per month, while on iOS, it costs $14.99 per month.
Paying users can provide a government ID to have their profile validated. The service will become accessible first in Australia and New Zealand this week. The membership package for Instagram and Facebook offers additional protection against impersonation in addition to profile verification.
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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, announced on Sunday the launch of Meta Verified, a service starting at $11.99 a month to authenticate one’s account, which follows a similar move by Elon Musk on Twitter.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in a statement posted to Facebook and Instagram.
This comes after Twitter, another social media platform, began to charge a premium under the Twitter Blue membership, which gives subscribers a blue tick. On the website and mobile app, the paid service is available to Indian consumers for 650 and 900 INR per month, respectively.