Meta is expanding its verification program to businesses

Meta announced today that it is expanding Meta Verified to businesses after first launching it for creators in March. The company is initially testing the verification program on Facebook and Instagram, with merchants in select geographies, but it plans to roll it out to businesses on WhatsApp at a later stage.

Businesses can purchase a subscription to Meta Verified at $21.99/month per Facebook page or Instagram account. They can also pay $34.99/per month for both. The company didn’t disclose pricing for verification on WhatsApp.

Just like verification for creators, Meta Verified for Businesses benefits include a badge, better reach and impersonation protection. The company is offering the same badge to businesses as the one offered to creators, so there is no differentiation. Meta didn’t specify if impersonation protection for this tier is any different.

Meta is offering better reach for verified businesses in the form of two things: better placement in search results and is recommended to users in the feed. The tech giant said that paid business users will see their account at or near the top of search results. Plus, they will show up in a new carousel in the feed called “Recommended Meta Verified Businesses.”

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company also said that to purchase subscriptions, businesses will have to meet eligibility criteria such as verification through phone, email or domain name and minimum activity on their pages or Instagram accounts. However, Meta didn’t provide specifics around these requirements and said they will share more when it begins the rollout.

The company is also building a verified program for businesses on WhatsApp. While it will start testing verification on the chat app in the future, the company shared some details on features. The paid tier will include the ability to create a custom WhatsApp-based web page, that is searchable. Verification will also unlock multi-device support for up to 10 devices for business accounts to make it easier for multiple people to handle customer queries and orders, the company told TechCrunch.

WhatsApp already offers these features to businesses with WhatsApp Premium, which it started testing with a few businesses in limited regions last year. The company said it is going to expand the feature set for verification on WhatsApp once it launches. Meta also mentioned that around the launch, it will also share the roadmap for existing WhatsApp Premium customers.

Meta Verified for Business will start rolling out to select markets in the next few weeks. However, there is no release date for verification available to businesses on WhatsApp at the moment.

When Meta launched its verification project for individuals earlier this year, it priced the subscription higher than X’s (formerly Twitter) $8 per month paid subscription. However, X’s business verification offering currently costs $1,000 per month for a base subscription and $50 per month for every affiliated account. That makes Meta Verified a much more viable option for smaller organizations.

On Tuesday, The Information reported that some individual subscribers to the Meta Verified plan were not happy as they were not able to reach the human support that was promised with the plan.