News

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.

Published

4 years ago

February 20, 2023

Nour Nasir

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.

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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.

News

For etisalat, More Bandwidth Is A Matter Of Digital Sovereignty

The etisalat group plans to expand its international capacity from 20 Tbps to more than 500 Tbps by 2030, with new routes designed for speed and resilience.

Published

2 days ago

October 6, 2026

Nour Nasir

for etisalat, more bandwidth is a matter of digital sovereignty

Emirates News Agency

By 2030, etisalat group plans to lift its international connectivity capacity to more than 500 terabits per second (Tbps), more than 25 times the 20 Tbps it has today. The group presented the expansion as preparation for rising AI demand and an important move for the UAE’s digital sovereignty.

His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, witnessed the launch of the project, which covers the UAE and international markets. Sheikh Mansour is also Chairman of the Emirates Investment Authority, etisalat group’s main shareholder.

He emphasized the role of coordinated national efforts in advancing the UAE’s AI and digital economy ambitions. “AI is a central pillar in our development journey moving forward,” he said, adding that developing the country’s digital capabilities would empower every institution, public and private, to build and innovate with AI “at the scale the coming decade will demand”.

“This project reflects our conviction that the UAE should not simply adopt AI, but govern it and build with it,” said H.E Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Alzaabi, Chairman of etisalat group. “That requires digital infrastructure at a scale that would prepare us for the future”. He cast greater international connectivity as a strategic answer to the challenges of processing and moving data globally.

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Beyond raw bandwidth, the expansion will introduce new connectivity routes intended to improve reliability and efficiency, and Alzaabi tied them directly to the sovereignty goal. “Delivered through diversified routes and low-latency design, the project is set to keep the country’s connection to the global digital economy fast, direct and resilient, while ensuring the UAE’s digital sovereignty,” he said.

He also linked the plan to the group’s 50-year commitment to building infrastructure for the nation. The announcement didn’t mention what the expansion will cost. Nor did it name the new routes or say who will build them, the details that would show what digital sovereignty means in practice.