Following a similar move by Elon Musk at Twitter, Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, will introduce a premium subscription service with a starting price of $11.99 per month that would allow users to verify their accounts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed on Sunday.
Users will be able to verify a "account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support," according to Zuckerberg. Meta Verified will launch this week, starting in Australia and New Zealand.
"This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services," he wrote in a statement posted to his Facebook account.
There would be no changes to accounts on Facebook and Instagram that are already verified, the company said, adding that only users who are over the age of 18 will be allowed to subscribe. The service is not yet available to businesses.
It was not immediately clear how Zuckerberg planned to price Meta Verified in countries where users cannot afford to pay $12 a month, or in cash-based economies where they may have fewer ways to get the money to Meta.
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