“Wow,” was my first thought, “Facebook must be pretty desperate.”
While browsing Instagram, which we all know belongs to Facebook Meta, a notification asked me whether I’d like to verify my account. You know, with a blue checkmark and all—kind of like Twitter X (why is every tech company throwing out their brand names?!).
After clicking through some pages, I expected to be asked for any kind of ID or something. But, no, page three already made it clear: you must pay.
Desperate because this was one of Elon Musk’s (God damn him!) first moves after he bought Twitter. “Making Twitter profitable,” he said. What had been reserved for official accounts and people who appear often in public could then be bought. For roughly $2.70 USD (converted from ฿92.06 THB here in Thailand). Monthly. For a blue icon on your profile.
And now Meta is doing the same. Meta is actually losing users, and this Threads app that pops up every now and then on Instagram and never made me curious enough to even test it won’t survive very long, either.
So, and now Meta is doing what it has always done before: buying promising companies, wasting money on this cringy Metaverse thing, and now trying to make me pay almost $9 USD per month so that I get what? A blue checkmark? Cool.
Thanks, Meta, but no thanks. Go back to into your leg-less Metaverse and continue bullying native Hawaiians out of their homeland to build your $100 million USD bunker.
Oh, and don’t forget your blue checkmark!
