Meta Launches Paid ‘Verified’ Subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees Joint Hearing in Washington on April 10, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is launching a paid subscription program called “Meta Verified” that allows for account verification with a blue badge—a move that models Twitter’s blue checkmark feature.

Meta Verified is “a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on the web or $14.99 / month on iOS.”

The program will be available for Facebook and Instagram users, and is offered as an extra feature. The average user can still access the platforms without payments.

According to the company, the “Meta Verified” program will be introduced in New Zealand and Australia this week, followed by other nations in the future. At present, businesses are not eligible for Meta Verified.

Meta’s announcement comes after Twitter had earlier introduced the “Twitter Blue” paid subscription program that allows subscribers to get a blue checkmark and a host of other features.

Twitter intends to eventually remove checkmarks from accounts that were verified prior to the launch of Twitter Blue. According to Meta, the company plans to allow accounts that are already verified to remain as is during the program’s testing phase.

Verification and Pricing

In order to qualify for Meta Verified, users must be 18 years of age or older, provide a government ID with a name and photo that matches their profile, and meet minimum activity requirements like prior posting history.

Meta has struggled with fake accounts as well as users complaining about such accounts. Many users have also complained about challenges in getting help from customer support when dealing with issues like getting locked out of accounts, being hacked, and so on.

Zuckerberg justified the subscription fee by citing costs involved in providing customer support and verification.

“We already provide protections and some support for everyone. But verifying government IDs and providing direct access to customer support for millions or billions of people costs a significant amount of money,” he replied to a comment on the Facebook post.

“Subscription fees will cover this and will also pace how many people sign up so we'll be able to ensure quality as we scale.”

However, some users have criticized the monthly fee, pointing out that $11.99 per month, which amounts to around $144 per year, would be too much for verification and support.

Shaky Financials at Meta

Meta’s subscription service announcement comes after a poor financial performance last year. The company’s revenues had largely remained flat in 2022 at $116.61 billion, slightly lower than $117.93 billion in 2021.

Its expenses rose while income fell. Costs and expenses jumped from $71.17 billion to $87.67 billion while income from operations fell from $46.75 to $28.94 billion. Its net income fell by 41 percent to $23.2 billion.

Over the past year, Meta shares have declined by more than 14 percent as of Feb. 17. In November, the company announced laying off 11,000 employees. A hiring freeze is in effect until March.

Meanwhile, Meta is sinking billions into its virtual reality platform. In an Epoch Times analysis, reporter Petr Svab points out that the project is “bleeding money” so fast that it is raising questions as to how long the company can keep such investments going.

Meta’s VR division Reality Labs has reported an operating loss of over $21 billion over the past two years. “With the economy bracing for a recession, Meta may see its advertising revenues shrink, making it harder to explain to stockholders why sinking billions into the metaverse is a good idea,” Svab wrote.