Meta is rolling out a free Facebook verification badge for selected regions starting July 27, allowing adults to show that there is a real person behind their account by recording a short video selfie.
Eligible users will receive prompts on their Facebook profile or within Marketplace, Groups, or Dating, a Meta spokesperson tells Inc. The prompts will roll out over the coming months.
Approved users will receive a badge across those services, with Feed posts to follow. Meta will compare the selfie with photographs already displayed on the user’s profile, a process it says should take only a few minutes.
The company will automatically delete the video selfie and related facial data within 30 days after verification, while allowing users to retain the badge, the spokesperson says.
Unlike Meta Verified, the company’s existing paid subscription, Facebook Verified carries no fee.
The badge could become particularly valuable on Marketplace, where buyers routinely transact with strangers. But Meta stresses that it confirms only that the user passed its selfie check. It does not endorse the user, verify their listings, or guarantee that they are trustworthy.
The launch also puts Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s latest pitch into practice. One day before announcing the badge, Zuckerberg launched a campaign declaring that Meta was “betting on people” as AI makes profiles, photographs, and messages easier to fabricate.
Tom Alison, the head of Facebook, similarly framed the badge as part of the platform’s effort to preserve “real connections between real people.”
Users must be at least 18, have an account in good standing, and show no evidence of scams, fraud, deceptive practices, or other inauthentic behaviour. Pages and accounts using Professional Mode are not eligible.
If Meta cannot verify a user, the person will not receive a badge but can try again later, the spokesperson says. Failing the check will not otherwise limit how they use Facebook.
A new trust signal
Meta’s published process does not include checking a government-issued ID. It establishes that the person recording the selfie resembles the person pictured on the account. That may deter profiles built with stolen or AI-generated faces, but it cannot prove that a seller owns an advertised item, intends to deliver it, or will not attempt a payment scam.
The product is primarily solving “a reputation and user trust problem,” said Andras Cser, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, an independent research and advisory firm. Badges add friction, he said, but can also enable more trusted transactions.
Still, Facebook Verified does not meet the formal, jurisdiction-specific know-your-customer requirements used in regulated industries, Cser said.
Other platforms have already turned verification into an engagement signal. LinkedIn says more than 100 million members have added some form of verification, and that verified members receive up to 60% more profile views and 50% more engagement on their posts. Tinder says its video-selfie system has reduced interactions with bad actors by more than half in markets where it operates.
Facebook Verified could create a commercial advantage even if Meta does not formally promote verified accounts: Marketplace buyers may simply favour sellers carrying the badge. Meta says the platform receives 430 million item listings and 44 million vehicle listings globally each month, while one in three young US adults on Facebook visits it daily.
Meta says verification will not affect a user’s visibility, recommendations, distribution, or ranking, including on Marketplace. People can tap the badge for an explanation of what it does—and does not—mean.
Meta is also launching Seller, a standalone iPhone app for frequent US Marketplace sellers. It includes AI-generated listings, inventory tools, performance data, and a unified inbox. Meta describes its users as people running side hustles or small businesses and is also exploring allowing businesses to list directly on Marketplace.
The fraud problem
The verification push comes as Facebook remains a major starting point for fraud. Consumers reported losing more money in 2025 to scams originating on Facebook than on any other social-media platform, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Across social media, reported losses reached US$2.1bil (RM8.57bil), with shopping scams the most frequently reported category.
Facebook’s return to a form of facial recognition also carries baggage. Meta shut down its broad facial-recognition system in 2021 and said it would delete more than one billion facial templates, citing regulatory uncertainty and societal concerns. It preserved narrower uses, including identity verification and fraud prevention.
James E. Lee, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit that assists victims of identity theft and fraud, says the program “could be a good use of biometrics,” but Meta has not provided enough detail to judge its effectiveness.
“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. – Inc./Tribune News Service
