New York (CNN) Meta is testing a subscription service that will allow Instagram and Facebook users to pay for verification, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram Sunday.
“Meta Verified” will start at $11.99 per month on web or $14.99 per month on iOS, and the company will start rolling it out this week in Australia and New Zealand and “more countries soon.”
The service also offers other advantages: additional protection against fake accounts and direct access to customer support.
To avoid fake accounts, customers wishing to receive the blue badge would need to present a government ID that matches their profile name and picture. Users must also be over the age of 18 to be eligible.
“This new feature is all about increasing the authenticity and security of our services,” Zuckerberg wrote on an Instagram broadcast channel.
In a statement, Meta clarified that there will be no changes to already verified accounts. Verification was previously for users who are “authentic and notable.”
“We are evolving the meaning of the blue badge to focus on authenticity so we can expand access to verification to more people,” said a Meta spokesperson. “We will be showing follower counts in more places so people can distinguish which accounts are notable public figures among accounts with the same name.”
Meta joins other platforms like Discord, Reddit, and YouTube, which have their own subscription-based models.
Twitter relaunched its own verification subscription service, Twitter Blue, in December after a series of fake “verified” accounts forced it to discontinue the feature. The tick options are now different colors to differentiate between accounts: gold checks for corporations, gray checks for government agencies and other organizations, and blue checks for individuals, whether celebrities or not.
Twitter Blue is priced at $11 a month for iOS and Android subscribers, part of owner Elon Musk’s attempt to grow his subscription business after buying the platform for $44 billion.
CNN’s Clare Duffy contributed to this report.