Meta Announces Verified Subscription For Instagram; As Twitter Ends SMS 2FA

Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday, announced a new Meta Verified subscription service for Instagram and Facebook, offering users the coveted blue checkmark among other perks.

Alongside the blue badge, users who meet certain eligibility requirements and sign up for Meta Verified, will also get increased visibility in search; prioritization in comments, Explore page and Reels recommendations. Meta will provide Verified subscribers with 100 free stars, a digital currency they can use to tip creators on Facebook. The subscription also comes with access to exclusive stickers for use in Stories and Reels.

"This feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services," Zuckerberg claimed in the announcement. He said Meta would test the subscription first in Australia and New Zealand before rolling it out to other countries. Meta Verified will cost $14.99 per month when users subscribe through the company's apps on iOS and Android. On the web, where app store commissions don't apply, the service will cost $11.99 per month.

The subscription will be available to users 18 years or older. And potential subscribers will be required to share a government-issued ID that matches the profile name and photo on their Facebook or Instagram account. Once you're verified, you can't change your profile name, username, date of birth or photo without going through the verification process again.

Following Zuckerberg's announcement Sunday, many on social media pointed out that he's blatantly following Elon Musk's lead. Twitter recently introduced Blue Verified subscription offering their popular blue checkmark to all users alongside other perks.

Reacting to a tweet about Zuckerberg copying Twitter, Musk writes simply "Inevitable."

Twitter in the past week ended two-factor authentication(2FA) via SMS, with the company saying, "we have seen phone-number based 2FA be used -- and abused -- by bad actors." The platform "will no longer allow accounts to enroll in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers."

Non-Twitter Blue subscribers that are already enrolled will have March 20, to disable this method and enroll in another, or the company will disable it automatically. The platform offers two other more secure 2FA methods -- use of authenticator app and security key.

Observers say Zuckerberg's announcement Sunday, point to a general trend in social media companies moving to subscription services, as ad revenue decline in recent years because of macroeconomic problems resulting from the devasting financial and green energy policies championed by President Joe Biden and other western left-wing leaders.