Meta announced its subscription plan, Meta Verified, earlier this week and now the social media company is rolling out to users based in Australia and New Zealand. The company began the rollout around 6:30 PM Sydney time on Friday.
The subscription offers a verified label, improved reach, better protection from impersonation, access to customer support and exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram.
Users can look at the benefits offered by the subscription and the procedure to join on this website. The company is doing a slow rollout of the plan, so many users might not see the option to purchase it right away.
Meta Verified is a paid plan for individual and professional accounts that costs $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 per month on iOS or Android.
Importantly, users need to buy separate plans for Instagram and Facebook, and currently, you can only purchase the web plan for Facebook. So if you wanted to buy Meta Verified for both platforms, you will need to spend $27 a month. In comparison, Netflix’s top-tier plan costs $19.99 per month and Spotify’s premium individual plan costs $9.99 per month. The company said that it hopes to “offer an account linking option in the near future.” That means the subscription could work across both services in the future.
To purchase a Meta Verified plan, users need to be above 18, have a history of recent activity like posting and have a profile photo that matches the government ID they provide as proof. At the moment, Meta won’t allow subscribers to change their profile name, username, date of birth or profile picture without unsubscribing and applying again.
What’s more, the company is also changing the meaning of the blue checkmark on the platform. While it’s not getting rid of checkmarks for notable profiles like Twitter, it’s changing the definition of it. Meta has changed the description of the checkmark from “a tool to help people find the real accounts of public figures and brands” to “a tool to help people find the real accounts of people and brands.”
Earlier this week, the company told TechCrunch that to differentiate between notable profiles and Meta Verified subscribers, it will begin showing follower counts at more places.
“The blue badge will look the same as we evolve the meaning of the badge to focus on authenticity,” it noted.