Incredible, but true: the chaotic management of the Elon Musk version of Twitter seems to give ideas to the competition.
This is in any case what seems to suggest the discovery made by Alessandro Paluzzi, a developer who found in the code of the social network an explicit reference to a “paid blue badge”. Paluzzi is far from new to this, and he’s already teased Instagram features before they were launched, or even announced.
Verification at Instagram, a complex, automatic, and incomprehensible labyrinth
Almost all social networks have been criticized at one time or another for their user profile verification system. When it comes to Instagram, these criticisms are perhaps some of the strongest (or justified, it depends). Opaque, largely automated, and random for some, it is not uncommon for users to be certified for no apparent reason, when public profiles can try everything in vain to obtain the precious blue badge.
The possibility offered since 2018 to submit a request for verification has not really solved these problems, and on the contrary has allowed a gray market to develop. Companies independent of Instagram, which, knowing the tricks, had accounts verified, for a fee of course. Many accounts certified in this way do not remain so for long. However, Meta has learned something: users are ready to pay for it. So rather than fight against it, you might as well take your piece of the cake!
Note that, contrary to its habit when a feature leaks before the official announcement, Instagram has this time neither confirmed nor denied the arrival of paid certifications.
The last brainchild of Meta dates back to 2006
There are many reasons why Meta might follow in Musk’s footsteps. Like Twitter, Meta had a difficult year in 2022, which prompted it to lay off a large part of its workforce, and the colossal investments made by Mark Zuckerberg in the Metaverse are beginning to cast doubt on its shareholders. He therefore needs new sources of income. Finally, such a feature could be unpopular, but it was Twitter who suffered the hardest part is probably done on the issue.
But all the same, such a feature would be further proof of a recurring flaw in Meta: the lack of original ideas. Since the parent company of Facebook has serious competitors, most of its additions are furiously similar to what the other most popular social networks offer elsewhere. With one notable exception: the metaverse. And the success that we know of him.
Sources: Tech Crunch, Engadget
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