Meta launches paid verification option for Facebook and Instagram users in the US | CNN Business

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Facebook and Instagram users in the US will soon be able to pay to get a coveted blue check in their account.

Meta on Friday began testing a paid verification option for US users of the two social networks, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced. Instagram. The company plans to gradually roll out the payment option to more US users over the coming weeks.

First tested in February in Australia and New Zealand, Meta Verified starts at $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 per month on mobile. In addition to verification, the option offers benefits such as additional protection against impersonation accounts and direct access to customer support.

To prevent fake accounts, customers who want to earn the Blue Badge should provide a government ID that matches their name and profile picture. Users must also be over 18 years of age to be eligible for the new service.

“This new feature is about increasing the authenticity and security of our services,” Zuckerberg wrote in an Instagram feed in February.

Meta joins other platforms, such as Discord, Reddit, and YouTube, that have their own subscription-based models. Twitter relaunched its own verification subscription service, Twitter Blue, in December after the emergence of fake “verified” accounts forced it to pull the feature. Twitter Blue costs $11 a month for iOS and Android subscribers, part of owner Elon Musk’s attempt to grow its subscription business after buying the platform for $44 billion.

For Meta, the move offers the promise of another revenue stream beyond advertising, at a time when its core ad sales business is under pressure from a number of factors, including privacy changes to Apple and tightening budgets amid recession fears.