CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced that Meta is launching a new program – Test Paid Verification Program – which sounds quite similar to Twitter’s verification scheme launched by Elon Musk in November 2022.
Meta says that the program is launched because of too many requests for account support and better access to verification. At the same time, the creators can use the platform to boost their reach and visibility. As per Meta, the initial verification price would be $11.99 per month for the websites and $14.99 per month for iOS and Android applications, which will cover the AppStore fees for iOS users.
Meta’s Statement on META VERIFIED
“We will begin testing a new scheme called Meta Verified to help the up-and-coming influencers and creators to boost their visibility and reach. Thus, building a community and fan base effectively.
Meta Verified is a subscription bundle for Facebook and Instagram that includes a verified badge that authenticates the creators’ account with government ID with several other benefits such as – proactive account protection, access to account support, and enhanced reach. The test is started initially in New Zealand and Australia to learn the shortcomings and work on that to make it more efficient and effective before launching it to the world.”
Will META VERIFIED be a Fail or a Pass?
An analysis of the Meta Verified scheme shows that paying for a badge eventually diminishes the value of a platform. Earlier, the badge was only given to those who deserved that. However, the new scheme of buying a badge will make the platform more like a heap of random accounts with verified badges – which means those desperate for recognition will also buy the badge and become one of the “so-called creators.” This just diminish the value of the creators who have worked hard to get to where they are today and have more knowledgeable opinions. One of the incident that caused a huge fiasco on Twitter was the Eli Lilly case. Someone pretending to be Eli Lilly, named as @EliLillyandCo – a pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis tweeted, saying – “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” This tweet was from a fake account which was issued a verification badge from the Twiter officials without any thorough verification.
However, apart from this, many accounts were seen with verification badges in the past – those with zero to no knowledge of the content they are creating or those with no research-based content.
Some also say that Meta’s ad business is recovering from the huge loss incurred due to Apple’s ATT update. Hence, this is also the reason for introducing the paid verification program just like Twitter Blue Program.
Considering Snapchat+ subscription is now at 2.5 million, and Twitter Blue has around 300,000 subscribers, Meta can do much more. This has several elements of alignments – one of them is the exclusive stickers feature on Facebook Stories and Instagram Reel, along with 100 free monthly stars to show your support for your favorite creators.
Just like Snapchat, Meta is also trying to incorporate several in-app customizations to encourage the creators to use Star’s creator donations, apart from all other new upgradations.
It is hard to believe that billions of people will be ready to spend a part of their fortune just for a verification badge – but reality check people will do it. They will do it for fame, reach, popularity, and some for show-offs.
However, it is hoped that Meta will offer the badge after verifying the account and creators’ work. This is because having a ton of verified accounts with no value addition to the digital society will be monotonous. Maybe people with high knowledge will be left unnoticed, and all the cringing will go viral.
What do you think of the newly launched META VERIFIED scheme? Is it just account support to the creators with several added benefits or a way to cover the loss incurred?