Soon a paid certification on Instagram and Facebook? Would Meta be eyeing the Twitter model?
Instagram might be considering the possibility of proposing a paid certification to its users. This is at least what emerges from a few lines of code discovered by the specialist in this kind of investigation Alessandro Paluzzi. The developer shared screenshots of the app code to TechCrunchshowing the character strings “IG_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV” and “FB_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV”.
Soon a paid certification on Instagram and Facebook?
These texts explicitly mention “paid blue badge”, most likely in reference to the blue checkmarks that certified users have on the platform. FB and IG refer to Facebook and Instagram, which could indicate that Meta is considering certifying users for a fee on these two platforms. IDV, as TechCrunch specifies it, is a known acronym for “identity verification”. Alessandro Paluzzi discovered many features not yet deployed in the past, including a BeReal-like feature and an Instagram post scheduler.
In addition, the developer has also discovered code referring to a new type of subscription, but no one knows if it is directly related to paid certification or not. Twitter Blue, as you probably know, is a subscription service that costs $8 or $11 a month and gives users access to that certification checkmark on the platform, as well as some experimental features. Offering paid certification was one of Elon Musk’s first moves when he took over as head of Twitter, and it clearly made Blue more attractive to customers. Its launch was, however, quite catastrophic, the company had then implemented no safeguards to prevent anyone from impersonating anyone or any organization.
If Meta really develops a paid certification, it must find a way not to repeat Twitter’s mistake. Especially since Instagram users are likely to rush to have their account certified when we know how difficult it is currently to have the blue badge on the app. There’s even an Instagram certification black market, with people sometimes shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to get the blue checkmark next to their handle. TechCrunch specifies that Meta did not wish to comment on the discovery of Alessandro Paluzzi, so it is difficult to know if the giant is actually working on such a function. To be continued !
