Meta is using New Zealand as a testbed for Meta Verified for Business. Small business owners canvassed by the Herald have given the move a mixed reception.

The firm says Kiwi businesses are the first
in the world to be able to register for the new service, which costs US$21.99 per month for a Facebook or Instagram account or US$34.99 per month for both (only US$21.99 and US$34.99 pricing is displayed on Meta’s business verification page, but a spokeswoman said NZ users will be charged NZ$21.99 or $NZ$34.99).

Meta says the service will be extended to Whatsapp, which it also owns, at a later date; a version for individual content creators has been trialled since February.

For your money, Meta says you’ll get:

Over the past year, the Herald has covered several small businesses which have complained about waiting weeks, or even months, for Meta to address problems with their business accounts – despite them all being regular spenders on Facebook ads.

They included Scott Lawrie, director of the Scott Lawrie Gallery in Auckland’s Mt Eden, who had his Facebook business manager account hijacked on March 23 – with the hackers charging $10,400 to the credit card he had attached to the account. The funds were used to buy crypto scam ads.

Lawrie said while his bank (ASB) came to the party and reversed the charges, he could not get anything beyond automatic responses from Facebook support over the next month – with no meaningful action until he approached the media. He did not blame Meta for the original breach, but he had expected help regaining control of his account. The small business owner called Facebook’s response “hopeless”, especially in the context that he spent around $500 per month on Facebook ads.

His experience mirrored that of Christchurch tech firm Swiftpoint, which earlier this year suffered through a six-week hijack of its Facebook business manager account, and its credit card being used to book scam ads – preventing it from promoting a Kickstarter campaign – before a query from the Herald prompted the social network to swing into action.

The Auckland Arts Festival and marketing firm Razor had similar stories.

Meanwhile, a rash of impersonation scams, across Meta’s apps and other platforms, have affected high-profile social media users, including Newstalk ZB host Kate Hawkesby, BusinessDesk and Herald podcaster Frances Cook and others – with a response from Meta being one common thread, and impersonators simply creating a fresh account when they’re eventually taken offline another (impersonators are enabled by the fact that none of the big social media platforms make any concrete attempt to verify someone’s alleged identity before they create an account impersonating someone else). Artificial intelligence has recently added an extra challenge. This week, Tom Hanks warned about an AI version of him being used in unauthorised ads on Instagram.

‘Gouging’

So, what does this crew make of paying for priority support?

“I think this is a good idea. But I also think it should be free – and simply part of the customer service for paying advertisers. Paying for support? More like gouging loyal customers,” Lawrie said.

“As someone who spent 25 years in marketing and brand strategy advocating for customers, it saddens me that even basic customer service can only be had for an additional monthly fee. That’s just plain wrong.”

Lawrie said he would not pay for the service. After he received what he called “zero customer service” when his account was hacked, he said he would not spend any money with Meta again.

‘Elon’s playbook’

“It Looks like they are copying Elon’s playbook,” Swiftpoint chief executive Cory Mitchell said.

“To me, it looks like a service that should already be free of charge as part of their basic responsibilities to protect companies from impersonation and fraud.

“But hey, if it does actually put a stop to that happening, it will be an improvement from the current environment.

“A tick does also provide a nice bit of social proof too, so that’s always good.”

So, will he pay for Meta Verified?

The Swiftpoint boss said he would consider paying for Meta Verified.

“Not right away. Once we start spending significantly more on the platform, I will look to pay for it,” Mitchell said.

Nicole Pye, a Razor client who lost access to her Facebook business manager account for nine weeks earlier this year, said, “If they do as they say, this would be very valuable for businesses like mine, although you would think it would have been in place for their advertisers of our size [spending $7000 to $8000 per month] long before now. I would be keen on taking out the service, but with scepticism.”

Meta responds

Meta declined an interview, or to respond by email to the points raised by Lawrie and others.

In a statement, a spokesperson said, “Scammers present a challenge in any environment, including social media. We’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of our services, and already dedicate substantial resources and technology solutions to protect our community.”

“We are expanding Meta Verified to businesses to offer features that can help businesses, including having access to 1:1 support for troubleshooting and account issues and more proactive impersonation protections for a growing brand.

“Becoming a business subscriber to Meta Verified and completing the verification process is a way for us to further scale existing protections for your business because we’ve validated your business with trusted service providers.”

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.