META

Meta Announces Verified Subscription To Fight Against Frauds & Scams

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Months after it was announced that Meta was laying off approximately 11,000 employees, Mark Zuckerberg is back with another controversial revelation. These days, social media platforms are doing all they can to keep your attention. Users are finding features being implemented and taken away each week. Now, it looks like Zuckerberg is taking notes from Elon Musk. He shared that Meta would be rolling out a new paid verification subscription service, which was met with mixed reactions.

For those that have been desiring a blue check mark next to their name, your time has come. According to multiple reports, Meta Verified will become available this week in Australia and New Zealand. Users will pay $11.99 per month, or $14.99 on iOS, and will also receive direct access to customer support.

Meta Hopes To Combat Imposter Accounts

A main objection to Meta is that connecting with anyone who works for the company is nearly impossible. Further, in the past, it would be celebrities who found themselves copied and duplicated by fraudsters looking to scam the unsuspecting. Daily, thousands of social media users fall victim to scams from people impersonating a celebrity. However, it isn’t just the famous who have fallen victim to these cons. Everyday people have also been hacked or their photos used un ruses.

“This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuckerberg also said about the new feature. In a press release, the company added: “To help up-and-coming creators grow their presence and build community faster, today Mark Zuckerberg announced that we’ll begin testing a new offering called Meta Verified, a subscription bundle on Instagram and Facebook that includes a verified badge that authenticates your account with government ID, proactive account protection, access to account support, and increased visibility and reach. We’re starting with a gradual test in Australia and New Zealand later this week to learn what’s most valuable, and we hope to bring Meta Verified to the rest of the world soon.”

Meta Offers Additional Features
A blue verification checkmark on Instagram account on Instagram displayed on a laptop screen and Instagram logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Poland on February 19, 2023. (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Additionally, it seems that Meta will boost visibility for subscription creators in the comments sections and recommendations. They also claim that subscribers will have access to exclusive only content, but that has yet to be specified. Will you be signing up?

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Post Malone Will Perform ‘Twelve Carat Toothache’ In A VR Concert

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post malone performance
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On the whole, concepts like “the metaverse,” “virtual reality,” and “calling Facebook ‘Meta’” haven’t quite caught on with the general public. That hasn’t stopped Silicon Valley from trying to make “fetch” happen (yet), and their latest bid to do so will utilize a character who has caught on with a broad mainstream audience: Post Malone. Per Billboard, Meta (still feels weird, man) will host the beer-loving, cover-crooning pop star’s upcoming 40-minute concert film, Twelve Carat Toothache: A VR Experience on July 15.

The concert will stream on the free online video game Horizon Worlds in the Venues section, as well as Meta Quest 2. Fortunately for those of us who love Posty but don’t own a fancy virtual reality headset, it’ll also stream live on the singer’s Instagram and Facebook pages. It’s said to feature guest performances from the Twelve Carat Toothache featured artists, which include Fleet Foxes, Roddy Ricch, and The Kid LAROI. Post seems most excited about the fact that “we got to light some things on fire too.”

In a statement to Billboard, Post Malone said, “What really appealed to me was Meta being a great partner and allowing us to go absolutely nuts to create some of the most epic sh*t ever. It’s just a really cool, really different way to experience the album. Opening and listening to a new album had always been an experience for me and now with VR and what Meta is doing, it’s taking the meaning of an album experience to another level.”

Twelve Carat Toothache: A VR Experience will be available beginning July 15 through September 30.

Lucky Daye, Umi, And Serpentwithfeet Will All Share Performances As A Part Of Meta Quest’s ‘Soul Sessions’

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Lucky Daye 2022 Meta Quest 'Soul Sessions'
Meta Quest

June contains two occasions that are moments of celebration in Black culture. The first is Juneteenth, which occurs on June 19th, as it was declared a federal holiday last year on June 17, 2021. The second is Black Music Month which has been celebrated every June since President Jimmy Carter initiated it back in 1979. With both of those events in mind, Meta has decided to launch an all-in-one virtual reality concert series featuring some of today’s most talented R&B acts: Lucky Daye, Umi, and Serpentwithfeet. The series, dubbed the Soul Sessions, was announced as an exclusive through Meta’s all-in-one virtual reality headset, Quest 2.

The series kicks off on Thursday, June 16 at 10am PST and the concerts, which were recorded live, will be split into three episodes for each artist. The performances will be available to check until Sunday, June 26 at 11:59pm PST. According to a press release, each episode, which was exclusively made for the Quest 2 headset on Oculus TV and Venues in Horizon Worlds, will feature an interview with the artist where they will explain “how they continue to push culture forward through their music.”

Lucky Daye, Umi, and Serpentwithfeet have all been active over the last six months. Lucky Daye is just months removed from the release of his sophomore album, Candydrip, which was included on Uproxx’s Best Albums Of 2022 So Far list. Umi released her official debut, Forest In The City, last month and Serpentwithfeet used the final months of 2021 to release his Deacon’s Grove EP.

You can check out the trailer for the Soul Sessions above.

Meta Will Let Users Jam With The Roots And Attend A VR Young Thug Concert For Black History Month

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young thug black history month
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Meta — formerly known as Facebook — is giving Oculus Quest 2 users the opportunity to have a jam session with The Roots and attend a virtual Young Thug concert for Black History Month. Accessible through the Horizon Venues app, the two concerts are just part of the programming planned for the month. In addition to The Roots jam session and Thugger concert, DJ Snoopadelic will spin a set of his favorite hip-hop and funk, while Bounce icon Big Freedia will deliver a New Orleans dance party for the ages.

And while the music might be the highlight, there will be educational experiences too, including VR experiences about “Traveling While Black,” America’s history of protest, reform, activism, and social justice, and a virtual visit to the White House with President Barack Obama. New VR content will be made available each week, while Facebook’s Lift Black Voices hub will offer more traditional content, and Instagram will have its own collection of Reels and video series highlighting Black history — which is really just American history without the filter of default whiteness. You can find out more here.

As for The Roots, Big Freedia, and Young Thug, they’ve all been keeping busy with various projects. The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought recently launched their Disney Plus series “Rise Up, Sing Out,” and Questlove has been nominated for an Oscar for his documentary, Summer Of Soul. Meanwhile, Young Thug is helping his artist Gunna “push P” and Big Freedia is fresh off a 2021 spent remixing huge pop hits by Lady Gaga and Rebecca Black.

Meta Will Let Users Jam With The Roots And Attend A VR Young Thug Concert For Black History Month

by
young thug black history month
Getty Image

Meta — formerly known as Facebook — is giving Oculus Quest 2 users the opportunity to have a jam session with The Roots and attend a virtual Young Thug concert for Black History Month. Accessible through the Horizon Venues app, the two concerts are just part of the programming planned for the month. In addition to The Roots jam session and Thugger concert, DJ Snoopadelic will spin a set of his favorite hip-hop and funk, while Bounce icon Big Freedia will deliver a New Orleans dance party for the ages.

And while the music might be the highlight, there will be educational experiences too, including VR experiences about “Traveling While Black,” America’s history of protest, reform, activism, and social justice, and a virtual visit to the White House with President Barack Obama. New VR content will be made available each week, while Facebook’s Lift Black Voices hub will offer more traditional content, and Instagram will have its own collection of Reels and video series highlighting Black history — which is really just American history without the filter of default whiteness. You can find out more here.

As for The Roots, Big Freedia, and Young Thug, they’ve all been keeping busy with various projects. The Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought recently launched their Disney Plus series “Rise Up, Sing Out,” and Questlove has been nominated for an Oscar for his documentary, Summer Of Soul. Meanwhile, Young Thug is helping his artist Gunna “push P” and Big Freedia is fresh off a 2021 spent remixing huge pop hits by Lady Gaga and Rebecca Black.