Tech giant Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Sunday it will launch a paid subscription allowing users to authenticate their accounts on both platforms.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Facebook the launch of the new account verification system, called “Meta Verified”, starting at $11.99 per month.
The announcement comes after Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and owner of Twitter, launched a paid account verification system known as Twitter Blue after taking over the company last year.
According to Zuckerberg, the subscription service will increase the authenticity and security of Meta’s services by verifying user accounts.
This formula will first be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand this week.
Meta announced last November its intention to cut more than 11,000 jobs to cope with soaring costs and falling advertising revenues.
The job cuts announced by the tech giant are part of a large-scale social plan by Meta management, the first in the history of the company created by Mark Zuckerberg 19 years ago.