Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Facebook and Instagram users will soon have to pay to get verified on the social media platforms as Meta follows in the footsteps of rival platform Twitter.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a Facebook post on Sunday that the service would be launching for the first time in Australia and New Zealand later this week.
The company said it would cost $11.99 per month online, or $14.99 for iOS and Android (or $19.99 online or $24.99 for iOS in Australia). and Android).
Zuckerberg said in addition to a blue badge, the service would offer “additional identity protection,” improved reach for verified users, and direct access to customer support.
Related: Meta is paying more for Mark Zuckerberg’s personal safety amid job losses
In a blog post, Meta said it would rely on government ID documents to prove the identity of verified accounts to avoid the embarrassment of accounts impersonating people and brands — as happened when Twitter launched its paid verification service.
Accounts must also have a posting history and users must be at least 18 years old.
The service would not be available to businesses at this time, Meta said.
The increased visibility of posts from verified users would “depend on a subscriber’s existing audience size and the topic of their posts,” the company said. Those with smaller audiences may see a greater impact.
The company said it will also offer “exclusive stickers” on Facebook and Instagram stories and Facebook roles.
Meta cut 11,000 jobs in November — equivalent to 13% of its workforce — amid falling advertising revenue and an economic slowdown. The company’s stock price fell more than 70% in 2022 before rebounding, and it reported its first revenue decline in July.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk responded to the news in a tweet, saying it was “inevitable” that Meta would follow Twitter.
Twitter restricts SMS two-factor authentication to paid accounts
Separately, Twitter announced on Friday that it would only provide SMS-based two-factor authentication to users who subscribed to the $8 ($11.65) Twitter Blue service beginning March 20.
The company currently offers free two-factor authentication via third-party apps and security key, which are said to be more secure than SMS-based systems. If non-subscription accounts that use SMS authentication don’t switch before the deadline, Twitter said it would disable two-factor authentication for that account.
The move has raised concerns it could lead to widespread hacks on accounts next month if they don’t make the switch.
Related: Elon Musk put every lost young man in the crosshairs of the far right on Twitter | Katherine Denkinson
twitters last transparency report before Musk’s takeover shows that as of December 2021, although only 2.6% of active Twitter accounts use two-factor authentication, 74.4% of them use SMS as an authentication method.
has musk claims Twitter has been “scammed” with fake two-factor authentication messages worth $60 million a year. He separately backed a tweet claiming the scams were being carried out by telecom companies that had set up bot accounts to run the two-factor authentication process to generate revenue from Twitter’s text messages.
Don’t miss interesting posts on Famousbio
