Twitter caused a stir last year when the service announced that it wanted to be paid for the blue tick. Now Facebook and Instagram are following suit. The new subscription model has already started in the first countries.
A blue tick within a social media profile confirms its authenticity. Well-known people, but also companies, can make it clear at a glance that the profile belongs to them and is not an account that just copies a famous name. For many users, the blue tick is therefore quite relevant. The platforms know that too. If the blue tick used to be free after verification, Twitter users have had to pay for it since the end of 2022. The meta group has now taken up the idea and will in future be offering the blue tick for Facebook and Instagram by subscription.
On Facebook Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new subscription model called Meta Verified. According to the post, the service will start in Australia and New Zealand at the end of February. According to Zuckerberg, other countries will soon follow suit.
In terms of implementation, Meta follows the example of Twitter. For a monthly fee, Facebook and Instagram users can be activated for the blue tick. Above all, well-known people, artists or companies who advertise or earn money with their accounts are addressed. Meta itself describes the hook as “anti-counterfeiting against accounts claiming to be you.”
But the blue tick not only shows the authenticity of an account on Facebook or Instagram. It also brings additional benefits to subscribers, such as telephone customer support in case of problems and extra protections against identity theft.
This is how you get the blue tick on Instagram and Facebook
In order to get a blue tick on Instagram and Facebook, account holders have to verify themselves with an official ID document. In this way, Meta wants to be sure that the account really belongs to the person named and that a false identity is not being used to generate greater reach.
But this official verification is one of the reasons why Meta would like to see money for the blue tick on Facebook and Instagram in the future. “Verifying government-issued IDs and providing direct customer support to millions or billions of people costs a lot of money. The subscription fees cover that and also dictate how many people sign up so we can ensure quality as we scale,” says Zuckerberg.
Also read: Meta takes action against a growing number of fake German news sites
Subscription model and costs
The fact that Meta takes money for the blue tick and the extra service associated with it is basically understandable. However, the cost of the subscription is anything but low. In principle, Meta distinguishes between two subscription models: one for desktop users and one for mobile users.
Anyone who opts for the desktop subscription will pay $11.99 per month in the future. The mobile plan for Android and iOS is even more expensive at $14.99 per month. The price difference lies in the type of marketing. Smartphone users must subscribe through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, both of which retain 30 percent of revenue as commission. Meta adds the difference to the monthly price.
It is currently still unclear whether the Meta Verified subscription can be canceled monthly or whether it has to be concluded for a longer period of time, such as a year. It also remains to be seen when the group will also implement the subscription in Europe and Germany and how high the costs will be in this country.
Also Read: How Do I Know Who’s Online on Instagram?
There was a lot of resistance and excitement when the Twitter subscription Blue was launched. Celebrities in particular, such as the author Stephen King, were critical of the planned fee of almost 20 US dollars.
The reactions to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook post are also very mixed. “We have to pay for direct access to customer support?” complains one user, for example, pointing out that there has been no support for problems so far. Another notes that you shouldn’t have to pay Meta to ban fraudulent fake accounts. “Security charges should be a crime. It should be a business requirement,” agrees another user. The high costs that Meta charges are also annoying. “Enough is enough!! I go to Twitter, where a JPG with a blue tick is only $8 a month,” one user wrote.