Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to be borrowing from Twitter owner Elon Musk’s playbook. Months after the introduction of Twitter Blue, which forces users to pay for certain premium and security features, Facebook will introduce its own “Meta Verified” paid subscription service.
The new Facebook subscription, available at $11.99 per month for Android users and $14.99 for IOS users, will provide users with similar benefits to Twitter Blue, such as the famous blue checkmark.
According to an announcement published by Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, the service will put a paywall in front of verifying accounts with a government ID, accessing the blue badge, getting extra security features, and accessing direct customer support. The new service will first be launched in Australia and New Zealand this week.
The trend of social media platforms migrating towards a subscription-based platform is largely driven by a significant drop in advertising revenues. For Facebook, the service may also be an attempt to recoup its massive investment into the metaverse, which largely over-promised and failed to attract any users.
However, unlike Twitter, Facebook and Instagrams users with verified accounts will not lose their benefits. Besides the verified status, the premium Facebook status will give users access to premium stickers to use in their stories and reels.
On Instagram and Facebook, Verified users will enjoy increased visibility. Verified members will also be able to distribute 100 “stars” per month to their favourite creators.
Related News
- Unethical outsourcing: ChatGPT uses Kenyan workers for traumatic moderation
- Twitter reverses political advertising ban in search for revenue
In a bid to avoid the disaster of the early days of Twitter Blue, which saw thousands of trolls making fake profiles to imitate established creators, Facebook promises that it will act in the interest of verified users to protect their identities.
To sign up for the paid service, users must be over the age of 18, have a minimum amount of activity on their account, and present a valid identity document which matches the account.
