Users of Facebook and Instagram will now be able to pay for a blue tick verification, according to a statement from parent company Meta.
On the web, Meta Verified will cost $11.99 (£9.96) per month; for iPhone users, the price is $14.99.
This week, it will be accessible in New Zealand and Australia.
The move will enhance security and authenticity on social media apps, according to chief executive of Meta Mark Zuckerberg.
This action follows Twitter's premium Twitter Blue subscription's implementation by Elon Musk in November 2022.
Businesses cannot yet subscribe to Meta's paid service, but anyone can pay for verification.
For high-profile accounts, badges, or "blue ticks," have been used as verification tools to show their authenticity.
In a blog post on their website, Meta stated that subscribers would receive a blue badge, more exposure for their posts, protection from impersonators, and simpler access to customer service.
According to the company, previously verified accounts will not be impacted by the change, but some smaller users who become verified thanks to the paid feature will have greater visibility.
It has previously been problematic for other social media platforms to grant paying users access to a blue tick.
When people began pretending to be famous people and major brands by purchasing the badge, Twitter's pay-for-verification feature had to be put on hold.
According to Meta, users of Facebook and Instagram must have a profile picture with their face in it and their usernames must match those on a government-issued ID card in order to receive verification.
Similar subscription-based business models are employed by other websites like Reddit, YouTube, and Discord.
Although Mr. Zuckerberg stated in a post that the feature would be "soon" available in other nations, Meta has not yet provided a date for this.
Due to overinvestment during the Covid-19 pandemic, the company announced 11,000 job losses in November.
At the time, Mr. Zuckerberg claimed he had anticipated an increase in Meta's growth based on the rise it had experienced over the pandemic, but that ultimately did not materialize.
I concurred with this prediction, so I decided to significantly increase our investments, he wrote. "Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration. ".
He claimed that the "macroeconomic downturn" and "increased competition" were to blame for the revenue being much lower than anticipated.
At the time, he said, "I made a mistake, and I accept responsibility for that.
It's been said that the sincerest form of flattery is imitation, and while many in the tech industry were quick to criticize Elon Musk for adding a paid tier to the social network Twitter, it turns out his peers were closely watching.
Big Tech is going through hard times, but you and I are also going through hard times because we are Big Tech's customers. People are still willing to pay for an improved experience, as Elon Musk's experiment has demonstrated.
If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product, is a common adage regarding sizable free-to-use digital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Consequently, every piece of information that these companies collect about you is used to market to you through advertisements. It's a multibillion dollar idea that has made numerous companies enormously wealthy.
However, as they become aware of it, people are voting with their feet.
If you ask people if they mind companies watching what they do and where they go on the internet, most of them choose to opt out, according to research. Apple launched an optional feature that prevents your online activity from being tracked. Facebook's owner, Meta, has railed against it vehemently.
It seems first Musk and now Zuckerberg are determined to find out if subscription is the alternative, and if so, how much are consumers willing to pay.
