Facebook to charge users for blue tick verification

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is set to charge its users for blue tick verification.

The co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, announced this in a post on his Facebook page on Sunday.

He said the company would roll out the new product offering, “Meta Verified” service in Australia and New Zealand during the week.

According to Zuckerberg, the subscription service will enable users to verify their handles for a fee using government IDs.

The statement read:

“This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that 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.

“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99/month on the web or $14.99 / month on iOS.

“We’ll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon.”

With this development, Facebook has joined Twitter as a paid subscription platform, especially for blue-tick verified users.

The tech industry has witnessed a lot of changes in recent times, with many companies looking to recoup money or build new income streams.

Facebook’s latest decision to charge its users may not be unconnected with the quest to expand its bottom line which has been badly hit even before the recent sack of thousands of staff on its payroll.

With Meta announcing the new service, Ripples Nigeria understands that the new charges may not be limited to Facebook but to its video-streaming platform, Instagram.