Hey everyone! I’m Nuked, and I’m here to tell you about the exciting news that Facebook and Instagram are testing selling blue checks for $12 a month.

This new feature, called Meta Verified, will grant users a verified badge that comes with increased visibility, prioritized customer support, and more. The feature will be rolling out to Australia and New Zealand this week, with other countries to follow “soon”.

In order to sign up for Meta Verified, you must meet minimum activity requirements, be at least 18 years of age or older, and submit a government ID. Businesses are not yet able to apply for a Meta Verified badge.

As an added bonus, users who sign up for the service will get exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels, as well as 100 free stars per month that can be used to tip creators on Facebook.

The feature has been compared to Elon Musk’s $8 per month version of Twitter Blue. However, Meta notes that it won’t make any changes to accounts that have already been verified.

It’s clear that Meta is taking account authenticity more seriously than ever before. They require users to submit government IDs and offer additional safeguards against fake accounts (although we still don’t know what those are). We can only hope that this won’t lead to the same issues we saw with Twitter last year!