Facebook And Instagram To Have Paid Verification Of Accounts Now

Social media platforms have grown massively over the last few decades. Starting from Myspace, all the way to TikTok, social media has been adopted by individuals and enterprises to connect with friends, family, followers and customers. The widescale usage of social media platforms has given rise to several fake accounts, resulting in spam, scams and the spread of false news among other issues.

To tackle this problem, Instagram’s and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is bringing a paid verification service called Meta Verified, as announced by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In an update on Instagram, Zuckerberg said the company will begin testing the subscription service by launching it sometime this week in Australia and New Zealand first, with availability in other countries soon.

Essentially, the service will allow users to pay to verify their accounts and get a blue badge. Additionally, subscribers will get "direct access to customer support" as well as enhanced protection against impersonation. In the update, Zuckerberg said, "This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services."

According to a Meta spokesperson, the plan will start at $11.99 per month for web users or $14.99 for iOS users. This purchase can be made directly through Instagram and Facebook. To be eligible, users must be at least 18 years old and meet the minimum activity requirements. Most importantly, the users applying for Meta Verified need to provide a valid government ID that matches their profile name and picture.

Also, Meta clarified that no changes will be made to already verified accounts while the service is being tested.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, believes the move is logical, saying, "The market has already been tested by rivals, the perks mostly already exist and don't require much engineering time to pull together for this new product, and it generates a new revenue stream at a time when most companies are facing challenging economic headwinds."


However, as mentioned, this isn’t the first time a service like this has been tested. A few months ago, Elon Musk-led Twitter launched a paid version of their blue tick. Twitter had launched a paid verification feature where any user can pay the Twitter Blue fee of $8 per month and get the blue ‘Verified’ checkmark on their account. It didn’t take long for it to take a wrong turn.

Quite instantly this saw trolls pay up the fee and begin impersonating prominent public figures. Interestingly, this started with Elon Musk’s impersonations. Soon enough, this saw people getting verified accounts for historical figures, celebrities, politicians, popular brands and controversial companies and entities.

This led to a lot of chaos and misinformation on the platform, leading to the idea being suspended in November. It was reintroduced in December with a few changes. Reportedly, the price was increased to $11 per month. In a tweet by Twitter, they announced that only accounts that were older than 90 days and confirmed their phone numbers would be subject to the blue checkmark. Also, this would be after Twitter reviewed the account and clarified that changes to the account would result in a loss of the checkmark until Twitter reviewed it again.

Additionally, a previously launched “Official” label was replaced with gold checkmarks for the official handles of businesses and grey checkmarks for government accounts.


Replying to a tweet mentioning that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg essentially copied Twitter’s paid verification service, Elon Musk simply tweeted “Inevitable”.

Paid verification badges are one way to ensure accountability. However, if it isn’t verified properly, it could lead to confusion and chaos. 

What do you think of Meta’s and Twitter’s paid verification services and do you think the services still possess shortcomings? Let us know in the comments below!