It is a flat-out comedy show on social media platforms as Facebook’s Meta, (formerly known as Facebook) rips out a page from Elon Musk’s ‘How-To’ innovation book.
What do I mean? Months after Twitter launched its Blue Service, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is launching a similar subscription verification service of its own Facebook and Instagram. The name? Meta Verified – because originality is clearly overrated.
At present, verification on Facebook and Instagram is free and only offered to those accounts that Meta considers worthy. Realistically, a verified account protects the user from possible impersonation.
With Meta’s new verification subscription at $11.99 per month for web users and $14.99 for mobile app customers, this protection is offered if users provide a government ID.
Users in Australia and New Zealand will be the first users to be able to buy a verified checkmark. For the record: Australians will pay $20 per month for Meta Verification on the web, or $25 per month on mobile.
According to a statement made by Meta, “Long term, we want to build a subscription offering that’s valuable to everyone, including creators, businesses and our community at large.”
The Big Tech company continued, “As part of this vision, we are evolving the meaning of the verified badge so we can expand access to verification and more people can trust the accounts they interact with are authentic.”
But let’s be real here, folks. The only thing this new subscription service is going to do is make it easier for users to consider themselves influencers and celebrities and brag about their verified status. And for those who are not willing to pay for the verification will just have to settle for being unverified and unimportant.
So, congratulations Meta! You’ve managed to come up with yet another way to nickel and dime your users while simultaneously copying someone else’s idea. Truly groundbreaking stuff.
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