Instagram seems to be developing a service copied from Twitter. The photo-sharing application is reportedly working on a paid blue tick verification system a la Twitter Blue.
Developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi discovered code snippets that referenced 'paid blue ticks' and a new premium subscription service.
The same reference also appears in the latest build of the Facebook app, indicating a paid blue tick will be released for other Meta products if development continues.
In a screenshot shared with TechCrunch, Paluzzi shows the "IG_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV" and "FB_NME_PAID_BLUE_BADGE_IDV" codes on the Instagram app. Paluzzi said the abbreviation "IDV" could have referred to identity verification.
Additionally, Paluzzi said he found other references to the new subscription service that didn't exist before. He also found reference to the same in one of the latest builds of the Facebook app.
Even so, Paluzzi emphasized that he had not found any strong evidence in the Instagram application, only just this line of code. Instagram itself declined to comment when asked for a response by TechCrunch, as quoted by us, Sunday (5/2/2023).
Paluzzi himself has a pretty good track record of unveiling new Instagram features long before they're launched. He previously found features for scheduling posts to the BeReal-like Candid Challenge feature.
The account verification system on Instagram has been complained by users for a long time because it is complicated and seems random. Since 2019, Instagram has started to open registration to get a blue tick, but the system hasn't changed.
Currently, Instagram blue ticks can only be obtained by well-known individuals, celebrities, and global brands, even though many small creators also allow blue ticks. This difficulty led to the emergence of a black market for the Instagram blue tick.
Twitter itself late last year relaunched its Twitter Blue premium service where users can get a blue tick by subscribing to a monthly fee.