Meta Rolls Out Verified Service For Facebook, Instagram Business Users In India

A month after rolling out its “Meta Verified” offering for WhatsApp Business users in India, social media giant Meta has now expanded the service to Facebook and Instagram. 

Meta Verified is a subscription service that helps brands enhance credibility with new audiences with a “blue tick”, enhanced account support, impersonation protection, and additional features to support discovery and connection.

As part of the new announcement, the company has introduced a four-tiered subscription slab – Standard, Plus, Premium, and Max. The basic Standard plan starts at INR 639 for a single app per month, while the Max goes all the way up to INR 30,000 for a month for two apps. 

Each plan builds on the previous one, and offers increasing levels of features and support for businesses at different stages of growth. The company said that the subscription plans will be available for purchase only via iOS or Android for Indian businesses. 

Businesses have the option to buy verification for a single app or a bundled package for both Facebook and Instagram. 

In a bid to woo businesses, Meta on Friday (July 19) also announced an introductory offer for the subscriptions. Under this, users can avail the top-tier Meta Verified (for both Facebook and Instagram) membership for INR 21,000 per month. However, post 12 months, standard rates for the offering will increase to INR 30,000 for two apps per month. 

The latest launch in India is an expansion of the Meta Verified program, which the social media major has been gradually rolling out globally since its initial introduction in 2023.

Meta first launched the service for creators in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 but later expanded the service to businesses, starting with a pilot in New Zealand. The following month, Meta extended the service to businesses in Australia and Canada, with plans to launch in several other countries.

Eventually, it rolled out the service for WhatsApp business users in June this year for plans ranging from INR 1,240 to INR 9,940 per month.

The development comes at a time when Meta has been rolling out a slew of new offerings in India. Last month, the social media major rolled out its AI assistant for Indian users across WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram platforms.

India is home to the largest user base to Meta’s family of apps. While Facebook accounts for 378 Mn users in the country, WhatsApp and Instagram have 478 Mn and 362 Mn users respectively, as per Statista. 

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