Business/Brands & Marketing
‘Hard Times’: Facebook, Instagram launch paid verifications with…
Facebook paid verifications and subscription service has now launched for the first time as it struggles with falling advertising revenues, through its parent company, Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive, said, on Sunday, that Meta Verified will cost users $11.99 (£9.96) a month and include extra features such as verified accounts and increased security.
The Facebook paid verification service comes after Elon Musk’s controversial attempts to charge Twitter users for verification, which has seen minimal uptake and raised concerns that scammers could abuse the service to appear more authentic to victims.
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Meta Verified, which will first be available in Australia and New Zealand, a common testing ground for the company, will give users a verified badge on their Facebook and Instagram profiles.
Unlike Twitter’s service, it will require people to prove their identity by uploading a government-issued ID.
Subscribers will also get extra security protections, with their accounts monitored to check for impersonators, and their profiles will appear more prominently in comments and search results. Those who pay will also have access to human customer service, the lack of which has long been a complaint from Facebook users.
The feature is likely to be most attractive to influencers who use Facebook and Instagram to build online businesses, and often face impersonators.
The social networks, like Twitter, have long had a verified badge for prominent accounts. Musk, who bought the rival service last year, has said those who do not pay for verification will ultimately lose it, although Zuckerberg did not say Meta would do the same.
The new service represents an attempt to move away from being almost entirely reliant on advertising. Meta has reported three consecutive quarterly declines in revenue as Apple’s anti-tracking technology hurts its ability to target adverts.
