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Facebook & Instagram Are Testing Twitter-Style Blue Checks

The $12 per month “Meta Verified” upgrade will give users a blue badge along with increased visibility, impersonation protection, priority support, and more.

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facebook and instagram are testing twitter-style blue checks

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is testing a paid verification service for Facebook and Instagram known as “Meta Verified“. The upgrade will cost $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 on mobile, granting users a verified badge and other perks like increased visibility and prioritized customer support. The feature will first roll out to Australian and New Zealand residents this week and arrive in more countries “soon”.

To enjoy the benefits of Meta Verification, users must be at least 18 years of age, meet minimum activity requirements, and submit an official government ID matching the name and photo listed on Facebook and/or Instagram. Meta confirms that it won’t make changes to accounts that have been verified using the company’s previous system, including notability and authenticity.

Also Read: Hub71 To Invest $2 Billion In New Web3 Startup Ecosystem

As well as verification, users who subscribe to the service will unlock exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels and receive 100 free stars per month — the digital currency used to tip creators on Facebook. Meta cautions that businesses can’t apply for a Meta Verified badge just yet, and profile names, usernames, birthdays, and profile photos won’t be able to be altered without going through the verification process from scratch.

It’s hard to ignore the similarity between Meta’s new checkmark service and Twitter Blue, launched by Elon Musk recently. However, Meta seems to be taking account authenticity far more seriously, which hopefully won’t cause the deluge of fake verified accounts we saw on Twitter towards the end of 2022.

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Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users

Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.

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nano banana 2 arrives in mena for google gemini users
Google

Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.

The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.

Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.

The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.

Also Read: RØDE Adds Direct iPhone Pairing To Wireless GO And Pro Mics

Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.

By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.

The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.

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