Published - February 20, 2023 @ 4:21 PM (EET)

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On Sunday, Meta (NASDAQ:META) announced it is rolling out a new paid verification service called Meta Verified for Facebook and Instagram users, offering a handful of additional perks and features, including account verification badges for those who pay.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said via his Instagram Channel the aim of Meta Verified is to increase security and authenticity across the company's services and "help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster."

The new subscription, primarily targeted toward content creators, will cost $11.99 monthly for Facebook and Instagram accounts that sign up from a web browser and $14.99 if purchased through the iOS app.

WHY IT MATTERS

The move with the subscription service reflects several issues Meta is facing, having long grappled with inauthentic accounts and user complaints. However, with Meta Verified subscriptions, there are impersonation protections in place, a spokesperson for Meta said Sunday. 

In recent years, subscription offerings have become popular for social network companies as tech giants seek new revenue streams amid economic uncertainty, having weighed on their finances and prompted several of them to announce job cuts.

The new rollout is similar to Twitter's recently revamped service called Twitter Blue, launched briefly in November, but pulled after users abused the new paid option by impersonating celebrities and brands, and Snap Inc.'s (NYSE:SNAP) offering called Snapchat Plus.

NOW WHAT

For years, Meta has offered verification for some accounts. In 2018, the tech giant started verifying the identity of people managing pages with large audiences and extended ID verification in 2020 to some profiles with large audiences in the US.

According to the spokesperson, everything will remain the same for accounts that already have the featured blue check verified badge next to their name.

Meanwhile, businesses are currently not eligible to apply for Meta Verified. In addition, the company said users would not be able to change their profile name, username, date of birth, or profile photo without going through the application process again.

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