Facebook and Instagram will start rolling out a paid verification subscription service this week called Meta Verified, according to an announcement Sunday by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The plan will cost $12 for a web subscription or $15 for iOS and will begin rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week, with more countries being added soon, he wrote.
Facebook has long offered a verified check mark badge to accounts deemed notable and authentic, but the new plan will also provide the check mark to paying customers who can verify their identity with a government-issued ID.
Facebook’s move to monetize the check mark comes after Elon Muskannounced a similar move last yearwith Twitter’s coveted blue verified check mark, which was previously used to signal that an account of a celebrity, journalist, politician or other public figure isn’t fake.
Musk’s plan to charge users $8 a month for the check mark provides a new revenue stream for Twitter, but aproliferation of fake accountsimpersonating major brands prompted Twitter to temporarily pause the rollout of the subscription service in November.
