A new subscription service that would let Facebook and Instagram users pay for a verified account is currently being tested by Meta.
On Sunday, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, posted on his social media sites about Meta Verified. According to him, testing will start this week in Australia and New Zealand and spread to other nations soon.
For a monthly fee of £11.99 (£10) on the web or £14.95 (£12.50) on Apple and Android, Meta will utilize a government ID to validate a user’s account and issue it with a blue badge.
Traditionally, Meta’s blue badges were given away and only to well-known individuals or organizations.
According to Meta, subscribers would also have additional security against account impersonation and direct access to customer care.
In a tweet posted by Mr. Zuckerberg, he said, “This new feature is about strengthening authenticity and security across our services.”
Public personalities and other individuals who had previously been authenticated, according to Meta, won’t be impacted by the move. Influencers and other social media users who run their businesses but aren’t well-known public figures are the target audience for Meta Verified.
By announcing a subscription service, Meta is following Twitter’s lead.
Twitter started charging users 8 dollars (£6.65) a month for Twitter Blue, which validates accounts with a blue tick, in the latter part of last year.
Twitter went a step further on Saturday, revealing that users who don’t pay the $8 monthly Twitter Blue subscription will no longer be able to secure their accounts with two-factor authentication.
As online advertising slows, social media companies have been looking for alternative revenue streams.
Despite an increase in users, Meta just reported its third straight quarter of the declining income. In November, Meta announced that 11,000 employees, or 13% of the workforce, will be let go.