Meta is rolling out a paid verification service for Facebook and Instagram accounts in an effort to bolster protection against fraudulent users, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said Sunday.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across all of our services,” Zuckerberg said in a statement announcing the new feature. It follows Twitter’s disastrous launch of its own verification service Twitter Blue late last year.
“Meta Verified” accounts will be available to users in Australia and New Zealand later this week before expanding to other countries as part of a trial program, Meta said in a statement. separate declaration.
Participants will verify their account with a government ID and receive a blue badge in return. These credential holders will receive “additional phishing protection against accounts claiming to be you and gain direct access to customer support,” Zuckerberg said. The monthly fee of $11.99 or $14.99 will depend on whether it is used on the web or mobile.
The monthly fees will help cover the cost of verifying users and providing direct customer support. It will also “keep pace with how many people sign up so we can ensure quality as we scale,” Zuckerberg said.
Users will only be able to buy a subscription for Instagram or Facebook, and not both platforms at once, although the company intends to allow users to buy both within one subscription in the future, a Meta spokesperson told HuffPost on Sunday. .
Meta said it won’t make any changes to Instagram or Facebook accounts that are already verified based on the above requirements, though the company suggested this could change once the testing period is complete.
A company spokesperson declined to say how long the trial period may last.
In November, Twitter launched and immediately reversed its own blue check mark program after verifying a wave of imposter accounts. that program, from $8 a monthwas later relaunched with additional features offered to subscribers, including “priority ranking in searches, mentions and replies”, the company said.
Both Meta and Twitter have seen low profits, as well as a decline in users and digital advertising over the past year.