Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new paid subscription service for Facebook and Instagram on Sunday, granting users a hallowed blue check for a monthly fee.
Meta Verified will cost $11.99 a month on web and $14.99 a month on iOS. It’s launching in Australia and New Zealand this week ahead of a wider rollout.
The subscription “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,” Zuckerberg said.
The Facebook founder noted that providing direct access to customer support will cost “a significant amount of money,” which will be made up for with subscription revenue.
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The new option comes after Twitter launched a revamped version of its own paid service, Twitter Blue, which allows users to get a verified profile and other benefits.
Elon Musk rolled out Twitter Blue soon after closing his $44 billion deal to purchase the company last year. He said at the time that Twitter was seeing a “massive drop in revenue” due to an exodus of advertisers from the platform.
Meta has faced its own problems over the past year and a half, with shares of the company’s stock down about 54% since its September 2021 high.
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The social media giant has laid off about 11,000 workers in recent months, part of a wider downturn among big tech companies.