Kenyans will now be required to pay for blue badges on Meta social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
This is after the company revealed that it will adopt a Twitter-like strategy of charging a subscription fee for verification.
The move was touted as an effort to help content creators grow and build their audience.
Meta announced that there will be different pricing models for the web and Apple’s iOS system and Android.
“This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — 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,” stated Meta CEO CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg further revealed that users who pay the subscription fee would get direct customer care support, currently, the feature is only available to users who sponsor ads on the platform.
A Facebook user identified as Mark Nathaniel wondered why verification was not a given right for users.
"This really should just be part of the core product, the user should not have to pay for this. Be transparent as to the purpose of the feature," he told Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg in his response stated, "We already provide protections and some support. The verification fee is aimed at making us able to provide direct access to customer support for billions of people."
If you want your account to be verified on the web, you will have to pay Ksh1,500 per month and verification on Apple’s iOS and Android will cost Ksh1,900 per month.
The rollout of Meta subscription charges is expected to be rolled out gradually, starting with Australia and New Zealand. The company will then unveil the service in the United States and other countries.
With Twitter now charging Ksh1400 per month for verification, it means content creators will have to pay Ksh5,200 monthly to maintain blue badges on the platforms.
Other social media sites like Snapchat and Telegram also launched verification subscription fees charging Ksh625 and Ksh500 respectively.
This has been seen as a flurry by social media giants to increase revenue at the background of decreased advertising revenue.
While TikTok is yet to introduce a verification fee, the platform announced on February 2023, that it will be rolling out a paywall.
This will force viewers to pay so as to be able to access video content on the platform.
In a statement, the platform announced it will be charging Ksh125 for people to be viewing videos on the platform.
