Facebook has decided that paid user validation is also the way to go

AppleInsider

Meta is joining Twitter in providing a paid verification subscription to customers, with Meta Verified allowing other users to confirm the identity of its subscribers on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

In a Sunday morning post to Facebook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a new product announcement introducing "Meta Verified." Following in the steps of moves by Twitter to monetize verification, Meta Verify will aim to do the same, but with few other benefits beyond confirming the user is who they say they are.

It is billed by Zuckerberg as "a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support."

The feature is about "increasing authenticity and security" across Meta's services, including Facebook and Instagram, the CEO adds.

Initially rolling out in Australia and New Zealand in the coming week, with more countries "soon," Meta Verified will start at $11.99 per month when bought through the website. If purchased through iOS, the price rises to $14.99 per month.

At first glance, the initiative seems to be a more expensive form of the repeatedly-troubled Twitter Blue, which will also eventually provide users with a blue checkmark after eligibility criteria is met. However, Twitter Blue also provides features including bookmark folders, a 30-minute edit window for tweets, NFT profile pictures, custom navigation and app icons, prioritized rankings in conversations, and longer video uploads.

Twitter also offers tweets up to 4,000 characters in length to subscribers, will be limiting SMS two-factor authentication to paid users, and aims to cut the amount of advertising in half.

As well as offering more, Twitter's package comes out at $8 per month or $84 per year, far below Meta Verified's price tag. Whether Meta will make changes or tweaks to this over time remains to be seen.

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mikethemartian

It’s critically important to know that those cat videos are being posted by a legitimate source.

bonobob

One of the last things I’d ever do is to confirm my identity to the Zuck. 

rotateleftbyte

And for those countries that do not have 'Government ID'? What then? 
Not everyone here has a driving license or a passport so what then? 

So glad that I never got sucked into Facebook, Twitter, and the rest. 

williamlondon

Will they still have to receive ads?

baconstang

So they don't scrape and sell all your info if you're paying them???
Just kidding, I'll be here all week.  Tip your waitress!

mattinoz

I think at the this point a paid and ad-free from the beginning social network with distribution and the ability to run a server for your own domain even maybe as an adjunct to mail services you have would basically wipe these guys out of the water. 

quokka

rotateleftbyte said:

And for those countries that do not have 'Government ID'? What then? 
Not everyone here has a driving license or a passport so what then? 

So glad that I never got sucked into Facebook, Twitter, and the rest. 

Here's the thing, you don't have to buy it

quokka

mattinoz said:

I think at the this point a paid and ad-free from the beginning social network with distribution and the ability to run a server for your own domain even maybe as an adjunct to mail services you have would basically wipe these guys out of the water. 

So Mastodon more or less then https://joinmastodon.org

quokka

bonobob said:

One of the last things I’d ever do is to confirm my identity to the Zuck. 

He has enough data points on you already that there's no real need for you to confirm your identity to him. He wants to charge you to confirm your identity to others.

mattinoz

quokka said:

mattinoz said:

I think at the this point a paid and ad-free from the beginning social network with distribution and the ability to run a server for your own domain even maybe as an adjunct to mail services you have would basically wipe these guys out of the water. 

So Mastodon more or less then https://joinmastodon.org

Yes but with a joint venture with serveral cloud hosts so we can pay them a revenue that keeps the project stable but not attractive to take over. 

DAalseth

FB & Twitter;. 2FA is such a good idea we’re adding the feature for free.
Users: Well ok, yeah I’guess I’ll start using it.
FB & Twitter: We aren’t making money any more so we are going to start charging you a monthly fee to use 2FA
Users: F off.

This is how I expect the conversation to go. I really expect a lot of people who only kinda understood that 2FA was somehow safer, but not why will just drop it rather than paying ANOTHER monthly fee. The net result will be a huge win for the bad guys.

Thanks a lot Zuck&Musk /s

michelb76

The $8 for Twitter is a steal to amplify your conspiracy theories. Quite an improvement from before.

designguybrown

I like the Idea of this.
Will it hold up and be well executed? doubtful.
Though I am almost vehemently against most subscriptions on principle, creating a protective enclosure to the worst of the spam farms, etc., would be most welcome.
Do we risk creating 'verified' gated communities of extremism (but short of the defined 'hate' kind) and does that matter?
Elitism or just a practical protection service?
Now: if only I considered FaceB and TwitR a good use of time...

beowulfschmidt

quokka said:

bonobob said:

One of the last things I’d ever do is to confirm my identity to the Zuck. 

He has enough data points on you already that there's no real need for you to confirm your identity to him. He wants to charge you to confirm your identity to others.

This part, right here.

fastasleep

Ha, I didn't even realize the Twitter verified account feature was a *monthly* charge until this FB nonsense came out. This is a shakedown due to ad revenue dropping precipitously for both companies — one mostly self-inflicted by Musk's jackassery, and the other by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency features. Fuck them both.