Menlo Park, California - Meta is following Twitter's lead in exploring a new paid subscription model, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced.

The idea is that any Facebook and Instagram user can pay a monthly fee to confirm their identity by presenting ID to get a "verified" badge, as well as other premium features.

In addition to the usual tick of a verified account, the so-called Meta Verified service will also include direct access to customer support and protection from copycat profiles.

The subscription is set to be introduced in Australia and New Zealand initially, founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook on Sunday. "More countries soon," the Meta boss said.

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The price will be $11.99 if the subscription is booked on the web. The price is higher for iPhone users at $14.99. Apple will initially take a 30% fee on subscriptions made on iPhones. After the first year of subscription, it drops to 15%.

A launch in the US is expected in the coming months, a Meta spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

So far, verified account ticks have been limited to key members of the public and organizations - mostly celebrities, politicians and major companies.

The announcement comes as Meta's turnover has fallen by 4% in the last quarter. In addition to the general cooling of the online advertising market, Facebook and Instagram continue to be troubled by Apple's privacy measures on iPhones.

App developers now must explicitly ask users for permission if they want to track their behavior across different apps and services to personalize advertising. With many refusing to do so, online advertising models have been thrown into disarray.

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has also been putting his hopes on revenue from a similar subscription model. In addition to the tick symbol in the profile, which used to be available only with personal verification for selected accounts, paying users currently get the opportunity to publish longer videos.

Another advantage announced for the future is that tweets from subscription customers will be placed more prominently. In addition, they will only see half as much advertising.

The Twitter Blue subscription costs $8 a month ($11 for iPhone users) if you pay monthly, but as with many subscription models, there are discounts for annual purchases.

Snapchat has a subscription product for $3.99 a month that offers access to additional features such as personalized notification sounds or picture backgrounds.