Meta launches paid verification service on Facebook and Instagram

Meta is the latest social networking company to ask users to pay for account verification, joining attempts from competitors including Twitter to diversify away from ad revenue. 

The new Meta Verified service for Facebook and Instagram will allow users to join celebrities and other public figures in having a blue check that confirms their identity, starting from $11.99 per month, the company said in a statement.

While Twitter CEO Elon Musk called his rival’s move “inevitable” in a tweet on Sunday, the impact on revenue is likely to be marginal for now. The Meta Verified feature may add $2 billion to $3 billion to Meta’s annual sales, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh wrote in a note. The company’s revenue last year was about $117 billion.

Still, Singh said the move may be more beneficial in helping the company retain “creators,” who can pay for verification to protect their content and help their posts stand out. Increased visibility will mean “prominence in some areas of the platform—like search, comments and recommendations,” the company said. 

As of mid-January, less than 0.2% of Twitter’s US monthly active users had agreed to pay for subscriptions including Twitter Blue, the Information reported earlier this month, citing a document it had seen. Twitter reintroduced the service in December after reversing the roll-out of its premium offering for several weeks. During its first incarnation, some customers used the service to impersonate well-known accounts, including Musk’s. 

Meta will offer the subscriptions this week for users in Australia and New Zealand, and will include a verification process that requires a government-issued ID. In addition to a verification badge, the subscription includes “proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach,” a Meta spokesperson said in an email.