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Mark Zuckerberg is putting guardrails around Meta Verified after seeing Twitter’s impersonation issues when Elon Musk relaunched Twitter Blue.
The company announced its subscription plan for New Zealand and Australia this week. Meta Verified prevents profile name, username, date of birth, and photo changes. The company will stop them. Unsubscribe and reapply to change any of the above.
Meta Verified only supports real names on profiles. The company stated in a blog post that once your profile is verified, you cannot change your profile name, username, date of birth, or photo without reapplying for Meta Verified.
A Meta spokesperson told that the tech giant is working on a “fast follow feature” that will let users change any of the above through a verification process without canceling the subscription.
Meta Verified requires 18-year-olds, two-factor authentication, and a government ID that matches their Facebook or Instagram photo. The user must also post recently. When the paid plan launches this week, the company will publish detailed requirements.
Meta detailed its verification badge plan. At present, “the blue badge will look the same as we evolve the meaning of the badge to focus on authenticity.” To distinguish legacy verified accounts from Meta Verified accounts, the company will show their follower counts more.
If two accounts have the same name, the search will show the follower count of the legacy verified account. An average user skimming screens may not notice it. Posts may not show followers. It may confuse Meta Verified accounts with popular accounts. Twitter’s impersonation restrictions haven’t stopped bad actors from exploiting loopholes.
Meta Verified boosts paid user reach. Verification could amplify hate speech and misinformation. Thus, user reactions to the new subscription product in New Zealand and Australia will be crucial.
