Alex Omenye
The blue tick will be introduced on the social sharing application Instagram in exchange for money.
A developer reportedly uncovered the presence of paid verification in Instagram’s source code which would allow users to receive the coveted ‘blue tick’ next to their name to indicate that they are a verified account.
This is coming months after Twitter CEO, Elon Musk introduced the ‘Twitter Blue’ verification which offers similar benefits to users of the microblogging platform.
Meta have experienced a significant loss of advertising revenue, with an approximate hit of $10 billion last year, the introduction of the paid blue tick is probably a move by the tech giant to make money as the feature is going to be rolled out across Meta-owned platforms.
Twitter currently charges a fee of $8 per month for its Blue subscription, which includes a verified badge, in the US, Canada, Australia, and a handful of other countries. If Instagram does indeed introduce a similar feature, it will allow users to have a blue mark on their profile by paying money, much like Twitter. Paluzzi has a track record of spotting new Instagram features before they launch, including features like in-app scheduling, and the ability to share posts, Reels, and locations through QR codes.
Regarding paid verification, Paluzzi shared in-app screenshots of the code he found with TechCrunch, and it contains code referencing “IG_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV” and “FB_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV.” Paluzzi also notes that other than the subtle code references, there is nothing else in the latest builds of Instagram and Facebook that might indicate an upcoming paid verification feature.
Currently, the blue badge is only given to high-profile individuals, celebrities, and global brands or entities, which has led to a multimillion-dollar market for verification through nefarious means.
Twitter’s initial rollout of its paid verification system didn’t come without problems, most importantly, impersonation issues. It would be interesting to see how Instagram manages to roll out its paid verification and if users would want to pay for it.
At present blue tick is provided only to those personalities on Instagram who are well-known personalities in their fields and similarly the accounts of those organizations who share their information with the organization and are also known are declared verified. The news of Instagram providing blue ticks for money comes at a time when Twitter is ready to expand its service to other countries including Pakistan.
According to Techcrunch, developers had seen the feature of providing a blue tick service on Instagram for quick money but the feature is not currently available on the application. The feature of offering blue tick service for money on Instagram is likely to take at least 6 months to introduce it. The monthly fee for this feature will likely be kept from $5 to $8.
