Meta Verified has been expanded to the United States.
The subscription service — which was introduced in Australia and New Zealand in February — lets users on Instagram and Facebook get a blue badge showing their ID has been verified, get impersonation protection and get direct access to customer support, according to the service’s web page.
The service requires that users verify their account with a government-issued ID, the subscription starts at $11.99 per month on web or $14.99 per month on iOS, and a separate subscription is required for each app.
“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said when announcing the introduction of Meta Verified in a Feb. 19 post on the Meta Channel broadcast channel on Instagram.
Zuckerberg announced the expansion of the service to the U.S. on that broadcast channel as well.
“Meta Verified is rolling out in the US today,” he said. “You can get a badge, proactive impersonation protection, and direct access to customer support.”
In a Friday (March 17) update to an earlier press release about Meta Verified, Meta said that it’s expanding the test of Meta Verified to the U.S. after seeing good results from Australia and New Zealand.
“This test in the U.S. will reflect some initial learnings and feedback,” the company said in the release. “We’re removing increased reach as a subscription feature for now, as we gather more feedback and further evolve Meta Verified. We’re exploring elements to add to the subscription as we roll out to more places and will share when we’re ready.”
Meta follows Twitter, Snapchat and Telegram in launching such a subscription service, and all have done so in an effort to diversify their sources of revenue beyond advertising, Reuters reported Friday.
As PYMNTS reported Feb. 19, Meta said when introducing the paid verification service that such a service had been in demand by creators and that it planned to bring Meta Verified to the rest of the world after it’s been tested.
“Since last year, we’ve been thinking about how to unlock access to these features through a paid offering,” the company said at the time.
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