Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, on Sunday unveiled a new feature, Meta Verified, that would, among other things, let users have their accounts verified.

According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s post, the new service is intended to “increase authenticity and security across the company’s services.

The cost of Meta Verified

But, this new feature is not free. Users on Meta’s Instagram and Facebook platforms will receive a blue authentication badge for $11.99 a month on the web and $14.99 per month on iOS. They will also be required to provide an identification document which in this case will be a government ID. According to Zuckerberg, this week, the service will launch in Australia and New Zealand, and additional nations will follow.

The news comes at a time when social media giants are looking for ways to reduce expenses and boost revenue, and several others, including Telegram, Snapchat, and Twitter, have launched their services with different capabilities. Meta Verified is comparable to Twitter Blue, a redesigned service that offers users a verification badge in exchange for a monthly payment.

Protection against impersonation

In November, Twitter Blue was briefly made available, but it was withdrawn when users utilized the new paid feature to impersonate corporations and celebrities.

The protections against impersonation are in place with Meta subscriptions. To qualify for Meta Verified, one must be at least 18 years old. They must also present a government ID whose names match those on their profile name and photo. The subscription to this service also comes with the added benefit of “proactive monitoring”.

Unlike Meta, Twitter Blue users do not need to provide an identification document to get verifiedToto stop impersonators, Twitter finally restricted users from modifying any feature of their profile without risking the loss of their verification checks. 

The Meta Verified subscription and verifications application procedure must be completed for new subscribers to modify any profile information, including the photo, name, and username.

There won’t be any changes to Instagram and Facebook profiles that have previously been verified under the old standards.

What happens to previously verified accounts?

Politicians, business leaders, journalists, and organizations have historically received verification from Meta to vouch for their credibility.

For Twitter, Musk has plans to eventually withdraw the verification badges from accounts that were verified before Twitter Blue.

However, previously verified Meta accounts will not be changed as the company is still testing the service. 

Currently, companies cannot apply to become Meta Verified at this time.