Home Opinion Meta to sell blue verified badges on Instagram and Facebook like Twitter
Opinion

Meta to sell blue verified badges on Instagram and Facebook like Twitter

Share
Share

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has introduced a subscription service called Meta Verified, allowing users to verify their identity and receive the coveted blue check mark on their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Users can subscribe for up to $15 per month to access the service, which is initially available in New Zealand and Australia.

The service verifies users’ identities using government-issued ID cards and also offers increased visibility and protection against impersonation. The company plans to expand the service to additional countries soon, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The move to subscription services has been gaining popularity among social media firms, with Snap and Twitter both offering their own subscription services. Meta has suffered revenue losses following changes to Apple’s privacy policy that restrict its ability to track users’ internet activities.

Meta’s revenue comes primarily from advertising, and it expects to lose over $10 billion in ads revenue in 2022. The company hopes to develop a subscription offering that is beneficial to creators, businesses, and its community, according to a blog post.

Musk, who acquired Twitter last year, has revamped the platform’s subscription service, Twitter Blue, offering a range of additional features, including the blue check mark. Twitter has expanded Twitter Blue to over a dozen markets in recent months, but as of mid-January, only about 180,000 accounts had signed up for the service.

Share
Written by
Adekunle Owolabi

Adekunle Owolabi is a journalist, political analyst, and digital strategist with experience across Africa and the Middle East. He focuses on international diplomacy, promotes digital inclusion, and advocates for a borderless Africa.

Leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

The real Google problem in Eswatini is not the MOU

The noise around the government's memorandum of understanding with Google Cloud EMEA...

The real Google problem in Eswatini is not the MoU

The noise around the government's memorandum of understanding with Google Cloud EMEA...

Pirates star Mofokeng bags five PSL award nominations

MBABANE – Orlando Pirates forward Relebohile Mofokeng has become the most nominated...

Achebe, Ngũgĩ, and Mazrui: The Voices That Taught Africa to Speak for Itself

There are some names that don’t just belong to history books—they live...