Instagram May Be Tinkering With Paid Verification

Instagram, the video-and-app service owned by Facebook parent company Meta, could be the next social media platform that tries out paid verification, according to a new rumor.

Code snippets suggest Instagram is working on a subscription plan that includes a blue badge, tweeted app developer and tech leaker Alessandro Paluzzi. He noted that there are only a few references to paid verification, and hasn’t been integrated into the app enough to be worth posting any screenshots of the code. Aside from the color, we don’t know what a paid verification badge would look like.

Paluzzi has previously unearthed other potential features hidden in Instagram’s code, like testing songs auto-playing on your profile (a la Myspace) and copying BeReal’s daily candid photo prompts. 

Meta did not return a request for comment by time of publication.