New Delhi (India), 20th February 2023: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Sunday that now creators will have to pay for blue badges on Instagram and Facebook. A similar announcement was made by Twitter owner Elon Mask last year.
Users will have to pay a monthly fee of $11.99 to verify their accounts and get a blue badge. According to Zuckerberg the move has been put into place to increase authenticity and security across the two social media platforms.
The CEO further backed the step and said, “account with a government ID, (can)get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,”.
The feature will initially be rolled out in New Zealand, Australia and eventually will reach other countries. Accounts which are already verified will not be affected and only users who are over the age of 18 can apply for the service. Currently businesses will also not be able to avail the service.
Twitter had also attempted to put out this feature last year but had faced backlash and was at the receiving end of widespread mockery when many false accounts were created and advertisers pulled back their investments.
After the announcement many people were left wondering about the countries who are majorly cash-based, with no means to pay directly to Meta and also those who can not afford to pay $12 on a monthly basis.
