A new report states that Meta is working on a paid verification system similar to Twitter’s Blue – for its Instagram and Facebook apps.
References to this are spotted in the app’s code, as unearthed by a reverse engineer. Details on how much this verification system would be and what all features are available in this plan are still unknown.
Paid Verification for Meta Apps
Facebook and Instagram are two of the highly used social media platforms today – with both raking more than billions of active users monthly. With this popularity, any chance to get more reach or a blue verified badge on the platform is often taken, but the Meta platforms restrict them only to certain accounts.
You must either be a celebrity or a government official to get a free verified badge – marking your authenticity on the platform. But soon, regular users may also be able to obtain a verified badge – by paying Meta!
⚠️ At the moment there are only a few small references in the code about this, nothing visible so, until I post a screenshot that can confirm my assumption, consider it a mere rumor.
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) February 2, 2023
Hints of such subscription are revealed by Alessandro Paluzzi, a reverse engineer who spotted the below code lines in the Instagram app. “IG_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV” and “FB_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV.”
While FB and IG are the short forms of Facebook and Instagram, IDV stands for ‘Identity Verification‘ in most online spaces. And with a clear statement as “paid blue badge” beside them, there’s no wonder a plan of such is in the works.
While it’s good to authenticate its platform users and give them a special feel, hope Instagram wouldn’t make the mistake of Twitter from its Blue subscription. After Elon Musk’s takeover, Twitter revamped Blue’s subscription, creating enough havoc to pause the new project, create new rules, and relaunch the platform.
And with Instagram and Facebook having black markets for obtaining verification badges, Meta should carefully implement its new plans to avoid breaking the platform experience for its community. A spokesperson responding to Paluzzi’s findings said they don’t want to comment on it, so the authenticity of this move is yet to be known.