Instagram and Facebook have announced that they are testing paid verification on their platforms, known as ‘Meta Verified.' The cost starts at $11.99 on the web and $14.99 on iOS. It is being released to AUS and NZ this week and is expected to open to new countries shortly. As they test the product, there will be no changes to accounts on Instagram and Facebook that are already verified.

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As before, to qualify you must provide government ID which matches your name and profile, you must also submit a photo of the account you wish to verify, you must be over 18 and accounts should also have a post history.

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What are the benefits?

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This new verification process comes with some perks. It will help to protect against impersonation accounts, provide direct access to customer service, extra gifting currency ('stars') and exclusive stickers. In addition, it will have added reach on platforms and more prominence in searches, comments and likes.

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So why the change?

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According to Zuckerberg, this is meant to increase authenticity and security. The service is not open to businesses and benefits smaller creators. Spokespeople have suggested it will be useful to up-and-coming creators who want to build their presence and community

The changes follows the events of Twitter's verified subscription, which took down many fake verified accounts and Meta are most probably wanting to do the same. We think that the change is mainly due to the potential for a new revenue stream with over $600 billion dollars in loss start year. Meta have also been laying off their staff and consolidating their office space so this could all be in an effort to delay this.

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Watch this space, because there's sure to be more news to come around this. We're very curious to see what kind of uptake there is from artists on this too, and if you'd like to share your thoughts on the subject we'd love to hear them! Please feel free to shoot us an email at hello@comeswithfries.com on your two cents.