By Vikas SN
Facebook parent Meta is rolling out a paid verification subscription service called ‘Meta Verified’ for user profiles, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said on February 19, taking a leaf out of Elon Musk-owned Twitter’s playbook.
This launch comes at a time when Meta is looking to diversify its revenue sources beyond traditional digital advertising that took a major hit in 2022 due to the global economic downturn and impact from Apple’s iOS privacy policy changes.
The subscription service will be available for a fee of $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 per month on iOS. The higher subscription fee on iOS is likely to offset the 30 percent commission fee levied by Apple on subscriptions. There is currently no word on when the service will be available on Android.
Meta Verified will be initially rolling out to Australia and New Zealand this week with expansion to more countries shortly.
Zuckerberg said the subscription service will let users verify their account with a government ID to receive a blue badge along with additional impersonation protection against accounts that are claiming to the user and get direct access to customer support.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services” he said.
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In December 2022, Twitter had rolled out a revamped version of its subscription service Twitter Blue that gives users a verified Blue checkmark and a range of additional features including the ability to edit tweets, post longer videos of upto 60 minutes (2GB file size) through web, organise bookmarks, customise the app icon, add NFT profile pictures and get early access to new features.
The service launched in India on February 8, available for a monthly fee of Rs 650 on the web and Rs 900 on mobile devices.
On February 18, Twitter also announced plans to restrict SMS-based two-factor authentication mode to Twitter Blue subscribers.
Unlike Twitter, Meta is however not entirely scrapping its existing verification system. Further, this service will be available only for user profiles and not Facebook pages, the company noted in a support page. Users who already have a verified badge will continue to have them, Meta noted.
For accounts who have not subscribed to Meta Verified, the company will evaluate a “number of factors” to determine if they’re in the public interest and meet their verification criteria, it said.