Meta Launches Paid Verification System for Facebook, Instagram
The subscription, which starts at $12 per month, also offers other perks.
Facebook and Instagram will start rolling out a paid verification subscription service this week called Meta Verified, according to an announcement Sunday by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The service, which follows in the footsteps of rival Twitter, will offer subscribers extra protection against impersonation and direct access to customer support, Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. The plan will cost $12 for a web subscription or $15 for iOS and will begin rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week, with more countries being added soon, he wrote.
Facebook has long offered a verified check mark badge to accounts deemed notable and authentic, but the new plan will also provide the check mark to paying customers who can verify their identity with a government-issued ID.
Facebook's move to monetize the check mark comes after Elon Musk announced a similar move last year with Twitter's coveted blue verified check mark, which was previously used to signal that an account of a celebrity, journalist, politician or other public figure isn't fake. Musk's plan to charge users $8 a month for the check mark provides a new revenue stream for Twitter, but a proliferation of fake accounts impersonating major brands prompted Twitter to temporarily pause the rollout of the subscription service in November.