$8/month for TWITTER if you want a verified account which is the little blue checkmark next to your screen name. Now Facebook and Instagram are rolling out even more expensive monthly subscriptions – for their part in the little blue checkmark verified signs for their platforms and it’s much more expensive than Twitter.

For #markzuckerberg, a guy who stole FB platform from his friends to go from son of millionaires to a self-made billionaire (even though there was theft involved) he has he gall to charge the following:

The monthly subscription service will start at $11.99 a month on the
web or $14.99 a month on iOS or Android.

Sincerely, this is the height of greedy. If you want to view your Facebook and Instagram on both the web and your cell phone it could well cost, you $27/month for the coveted blue checkmark. Otherwise, if you don’t have the checkmark, you will be hacked, people will impersonate your account and steal your followers and according to the article I read which is attached below my observations.

In addition to a verification badge, the service includes more
protection against impersonating accounts, increased visibility in
areas such as search and recommendations, and more direct access to
customer support, according to a news release.

I think this is insulting to the audience of people who frequent the internet and social media sites. I mean, why can’t every one of us verified or not have those Services? Why must we pay to be more visible and more protected. I think this against their collective community rules or at least, it should be.

NPR (TECHNOLOGY)

TECHNOLOGY

Instagram and Facebook launch new paid verification service, Meta Verified

February 20, 20232:50 PM ET

ROSHAN FERNANDEZ

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, pictured in 2018, announced that Instagram and Facebook are launching a paid verification service called ‘Meta Verified.’

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Facebook and Instagram are launching a new subscription service that will allow users to pay to become verified.

Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — said it would begin testing “Meta Verified” in Australia and New Zealand this week, with other countries soon. The announcement came on Sunday via CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram account.

The monthly subscription service will start at $11.99 a month on the web or $14.99 a month on iOS or Android.

In addition to a verification badge, the service includes more protection against impersonating accounts, increased visibility in areas such as search and recommendations, and more direct access to customer support, according to a news release.

“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg wrote.

Currently, Facebook and Instagram allow users of popular and notable accounts to add a free badge noting the account’s authenticity.

The move aligns closely with Elon Musk’s revamped “Twitter Blue,” which was unveiled in November 2022. Musk made the once-free blue check mark, noting a popular account’s authenticity, available to any user who paid a monthly fee, but had to relaunch the service in December after a flood of users impersonated companies and celebrities.

Unlike Twitter, however, Meta clarified that there will be no changes to accounts which were verified as a result of prior “authenticity and notability” requirements.

Meta Verified isn’t available for businesses yet, but that’s part of the service’s long-term goal.

“As part of this vision, we are evolving the meaning of the verified badge so we can expand access to verification and more people can trust the accounts they interact with are authentic,” Meta’s news release said.

Meta’s announcement to charge for verification comes after the company lost more than $600 billion in market value last year.

The company has reported year-over-year declines in revenue for the last three consecutive quarters, though the most recent report may signify that the tides are turning.

Zuckerberg said Meta’s goal was to focus on “efficiency” to recover. The company cut costs by laying off 13% of the workforce — 11,000 employees — in November, and consolidated office buildings.