Meta wants your money, plus your data, for 'Meta Verified'

Less than a month after Twitter's proposed changes for how the platform would handle the verification of brand accounts came to light, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder, chairman and CEO, unveiled his plans for similar features to be implemented into Facebook and Instagram.

In a post on its website titled "Testing Meta Verified to Help Creators Establish Their Presence," the company outlined its vision for this new service.

"Today Mark Zuckerberg announced that we’ll begin testing a new offering called Meta Verified ... a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook that includes a verified badge that authenticates your account," the post reads.

This announcement comes at an odd time, especially given the heightened public scrutiny surrounding how social media platforms verify users. This was exemplified by the period of chaos that ensued shortly after Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter late last year and the major changes to the platform that followed.

Seemingly not wanting the past to repeat itself, Zuckerberg’s proposed plan for "Meta Verified" includes some changes to how the service would operate in terms of identity verification.

The system would require users to be at least 18 years old, meet some undefined "prior posting history" and tie their social media page to some form of government-issued identification, according to the post.

This news reflects a worrying trend of social media platforms' paywalling features that were once offered to users free of charge. Not to mention the fact that "Meta Verify" offers perks that should be available to all users, such as improved customer service and "proactive account monitoring for impersonators." It comes across more like a mafia family offering protection services than anything else.

This ties into an older discussion about the ethics surrounding how seemingly free platforms, like the majority of social media outlets, can simultaneously be some of the largest corporations in the world.

For the unaware (which, given the topic’s prevalence in social discourse, I’m assuming is a comparatively small number), the majority of social media sites' revenue comes in the form of ads.

Using Twitter as an example, the company breaks its primary income streams into two categories: advertising services and "data licensing and other." The former is fairly straightforward and covers money obtained through the sale of ad space on the website. It’s data licensing that draws most of the attention when it comes to these companies’ profitability.

Regardless of any additional barriers to entry, such as a monthly subscription fee, users are required to enter certain information when creating a profile on most, if not all, social media sites. This typically includes identifiers like your first and last name, birthdate and email address.

This information is then used to effectively show you ads deemed relevant to your demographic profile constructed around the information you provided. Advertising revenue is vital to the success of these platforms — in fact, even after torpedoing his company’s reputation with advertising firms, all Musk could offer those interested in subscribing to "Twitter Blue" was a reduction in advertisements. As opposed to the ad-free experience offered by such services as "YouTube Premium."

The fact users are unwittingly having their data compiled and shared with third parties is unnerving enough but right in line with Meta's track record of unscrupulous behavior. Of course, Facebook had to take things a step further by requiring those willing to pay for its service to hand over sensitive government ID information.

Considering current events, users may be uncomfortable giving out such sensitive information to a company like Facebook, given its ties to unethical behavior practices. For example, did you know that Facebook's parent company, Meta, helped perpetuate an ongoing genocide? It’s true.

Although properly explaining the situation would require more expertise and space than I currently have to offer. The SparkNotes version is that since 2016, there has been an increased persecution of and violence against the Muslim Rohingya people of Myanmar, with Facebook being cited as the primary source of hateful misinformation.

Instead of addressing this issue or trying to regulate their site in response, Facebook ignored the situation.

This isn’t even mentioning the domestic scandals the company’s found itself embroiled in, such as the 2021 "Facebook Files," which revealed, among other things, that the company knew that Instagram was detrimental to the mental health of teens but chose to do nothing about it.

But you know, I'm totally stoked to hand over my driver’s license number to these people.  And to pay for the opportunity.

"Meta Verify" is available now in Australia and New Zealand with an asking price of $11.99 per month if signed up through a web browser or $14.99 for mobile users looking to subscribe through their device’s app store. It remains unclear when the service will be made available worldwide.

But I think one thing is obvious: Social media paywalls are a trend that Musk brought into vogue, but they are not one he's unique for.