Why is Meta giving millions of Facebook users a free verification badge?

Meta is set to launch a free Facebook verification badge designed to prove a profile belongs to a real person in the latest move to combat AI-generated content and scams.

The verification, starting Monday, will be carried out by recording a short video selfie. The selfie is compared against existing profile photos to confirm a match. The verification process will only take just a few minutes.

The best thing is the verification process is free of any subscription cost. Speaking about the eligibility of the users, here are the certain requirements mentioned by Facebook parent company, including the user must be 18 years or older and in good standing with Community Standards, meaning the user has no history of scams, fraud and deceptive practices.

The verification process is available only to personal profiles, excluding Pages and ProMode accounts.

During the initial roll out, the eligible users will receive prompts on their Facebook profile or within Marketplace, Groups, or Dating, according to Meta spokesperson. The future expansion includes feed posts over time. Once verified, the badge travels with the account across supported Facebook features.

Those who verified the profile across the aforementioned platforms, one can see their verified badge on accounts that have completed the process.

According to Meta, the verification process proves only the authenticity of a person to ensure trust and safety standards. It is not an endorsement by Facebook, nor is it a guarantee of a user's trustworthiness. All users remain subject to Meta's standard policies.

James E. Lee, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, said the process “could be a good use of biometrics,” but Meta has not provided enough detail to judge its effectiveness, as reported by Inc.

“Without a doubt, though, somewhere in the world there is already a professional cybercriminal working on a way to bypass this system or spoof a verified profile,” Lee says.