Facebook parent company Meta has unveiled a paid subscription service “Meta Verified”, for Instagram and Facebook users.
Instagram and Facebook users will need to submit their government ID to get a blue verification badge, for a fee of $11.99 a month on the web and $14.99 a month on iOS.
According to reports, this service will be introduced in Australia and New Zealand this week, before it will be rolled out to other countries in the coming months.
Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed that the blue badge paid subscription service would offer extra impersonation protection, improved reach for verified users, and direct access to customer support. In his words, “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services”.
The tech giant revealed that the service would be primarily targeted at content creators looking to expand their presence on both platforms and could see adjustments after a test phase. It further added that no changes would be made to accounts on Facebook and Instagram that are already verified, noting that only users who are over the age of 18 will be allowed to subscribe.
Also, businesses on the platforms are currently not eligible to apply for the subscription service. Meta’s latest move of introducing a blue badge paid verification service, is coming months after Twitter CEO Elon Musk rolled out the Twitter Blue tick subscription service last year in November.
The move comes amid turmoil for the tech giant months after laying off 11,000 workers. Investors King understands that recently, Meta has given thousands of its employees “subpar” ratings in a sign that the company is preparing for another wave of layoffs.
Meta’s leadership expects the ratings issued in a recent round of performance reviews, to lead to more employees leaving in the coming weeks. The company has reportedly delayed finalizing the budgets of the teams at multiple levels, as it prepares for a fresh round of layoffs.
Recall that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg labeled 2023 a “year of efficiency”, as it focuses on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization. In Meta’s last earnings call, he stated that the company would be more proactive about cutting low-performance and low-priority projects.
