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Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty / Meta Verified
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Mark Zuckerberg has been catching nothing but Ls since he announced he was changing the name of Facebook to Meta and was going all in on the VR market. Now he’s taking a page out of Elon Musk’s book with his latest move.
Rumors began circulating on Elon Musk’s Twitter and Beyoncé’s internet that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta would unveil its own Twitter Blue clone to give Facebook and Instagram users verification badges for a price.
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That rumor was accurate, and the new subscription service is called Meta Verified Engadget reports. Mark Zuckerberg announced his new broadcast channel (Instagram’s latest feature) that Meta Verified is coming whether we care for it or not.
According to Zuckerberg, those who cough up the money will get a verification badge, increased profile visibility, additional impersonation protection, and direct access to customer support.
“This feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services,” Zuck said in his post. He also revealed that Meta Verified would be tested in Australia and New Zealand before the company rolls it out to other countries.
The service will also cost iOS and Android users $15 and $12 on the web minus the app store commission fees.
Unlike Twitter Blue’s sloppy rollout, Meta hopes to curb people from making fake accounts for notable companies. Potential Meta Verified users must be 18 or older and present a valid government-issued ID matching their name and profile photo on their Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Once you get verified, you can’t change your profile name, username, date of birth, or photo and must repeat the verification process.
Already verified accounts before the announcement will keep their status due to their notability.
Some Other Ridiculous Meta Verified Perks
Engadget also reports subscribers will receive 100 free stars, a digital currency we have never heard of, to tip content creators on Facebook.
Meta Verified subscribers could access exclusive stickers and reels for their Instagram Stories and Reels.
Will you sign up? Or is this a hard pass?
It sounds like another bad idea from the mind of Mark Zuckerberg.
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Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty
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It looks like one of the most high-profile celebrity couples may be broken up. The Internets have deduced that Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are no longer dating.
As spotted on High Snobiety the Think Like A Dog star has scrubbed the rapper from all her social media channels. On Sunday, February 12 fans noticed that she stopped following MGK on Instagram. While that is probably the biggest red flag with confirming true love in this era of digital sharing; her followers also noticed she also removed any photos where he was featured. Additionally, she started using cryptic quotes from Beyoncé’s “Pray You Catch Me” (“You can taste the dishonesty/it’s all over your breath”) throughout her Instagram stories. A day later she deactivated her Instagram entirely.
Back in January 2022, the two got engaged after months of a very public relationship. Since then breakup rumors have followed them along with ongoing criticism for their at times bizarre behavior. In April Megan confirmed with Glamour that they drank each other’s blood in pint-sized portions.
“Yeah. So, I guess to drink each other’s blood might mislead people or people are imagining us with goblets and we’re like Game of Thrones, drinking each other’s blood. It’s just a few drops, but yes, we do consume each other’s blood on occasion for ritual purposes only” she explained.
Machine Gun Kelly has yet to comment on Megan’s social media scrubbing but it should be noted that photos of her still live on his feed. So in theory; there still is hope.
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Photo: Getty
He’s back! Ed Sheeran returned to social media with a candid Instagram video on Tuesday (Jan. 31).
“Hi guys, so I realize I haven’t been that engaged in my social media or my fan base online over the last couple of years,” Sheeran confessed in the selfie video directly to camera before breaking into a charming whisper. “And the things that have been posted on this account might have got a bit boring. And I’m sorry, it’s my fault.
He continued back at full volume: “Umm, the reason I’m making this video is, just being totally honest, I’ve had some turbulent things been happening in my personal life, so I just didn’t really feel like being online and pretending to be something I’m not when I wasn’t feeling like that.”
After revealing that “things are looking up,” the British pop sensation promised his fans that he’s now “back online” and that “weird sh– is gonna start being posted” on his Instagram feed. “I’ve made this video like 50 f—in’ times, I’m not making another one,” he then quipped before signing off.
Indeed, Sheeran has been one of several high-profile artists who’ve opted not to use Twitter either, instead leaving his account on that app — which is branded “Ed Sheeran HQ” — in the hands of his management team
Late last year, the singer hopped briefly back on Instagram to commemorate his hit “Shivers” reaching the billion-stream mark on Spotify, and in the process revealed he was on the windy, outdoor set of a yet-unnamed music video for his follow-up to 2021’s = (Equals) that’s set to be released sometime this year.
Watch Sheeran’s social media confession below.
Kelsea Ballerini has officially added more ink to her body, bringing her grand total to four tattoos — or “little baby tats” in her own words. The country singer hopped online for an “Ask Me Anything” session via her Instagram Stories, and revealed her new body art.
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A fan during the Q&A session asked, “new tattoos?” in the AMA box, to which the “Hole in the Bottle” singer shared a picture of her posing in the mirror in a green bikini, showing off her new body art: a tiny wave.
“I got a little wave on my hip,” she told the inquiring fan. And apparently, the new ink has been a long time coming — “I’ve been wanting it since 2016 and just randomly one day did it. it’s my fourth little baby tat. kinda want more. kinda don’t want my mom to kill me,” she added.
The singer shed light on how she got her first tattoo in a 2021 interview with Shape. “This is a story I’ve never told publicly. The day before my first photo shoot, I panicked because I wanted a tattoo but didn’t have one yet,” she said. “And I was like, What if this single [‘Love Me Like You Mean It’] works and people start to follow me? Then all of a sudden, I get a tattoo. People will be like, ‘She’s going off the deep end.’”
That first tattoo, Ballerini revealed, ended up being the “how sweet the sound” lyric from “Amazing Grace” on her left forearm. “It was just this youthfully innocent way of saying, ‘I’ve got to be who I am from the beginning of this,’” she added. “A lot of artists and public people have a persona that they step into, but I can’t do that. I don’t want any surprises. I just want it all to be out there.”
See Ballerini’s new tattoo below.
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Mariah Carey might not officially hold the title of the Queen of Christmas after a fierce trademark battle, but her performance on the Billboard charts certainly suggests otherwise. On Tuesday (Dec. 27), the singer reacted with glee after finding out that her holiday hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” hangs atop the Billboard Hot 100 for an 11th total week, extending Carey’s record for the most weeks of an artist ranking at No. 1 on the chart: 90 throughout her career.
“I can’t even handle this news.. I’m jumping up and down in the snow..! Meanwhile Cha Cha is swimming around and Mutley is howling like a kid running around in circles feeling our energy,” Carey captioned photos of the song crowning the Hot 100, the Global 200 and the Global Excl. U.S. charts, along with Christmas tree, snowflake and wrapped gift emojis.
While the holiday classic leads for a third week this holiday season, it’s far from the first time it has achieved this feat — “Christmas” has topped the Hot 100 during the holidays each year since December 2019. Meanwhile on the Global 200, “Christmas” earned a 12th total week at No. 1, along with a seventh week atop Global Excl. U.S., dating to the charts’ inceptions two years ago.
Carey also scored another major achievement for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on Christmas Day. On Twitter and Instagram, the singer shared a boomerang style video of her hiding her face in disbelief while holding up her phone, which stated that “‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ breaks the record for the biggest streaming day in global Spotify history” with a 21.26 million streams on the music platform.
“Merry Christmas everybody!!! Did not expect to wake up to this amazing surprise!!!!” she captioned the post, which came amid a series of fittingly Christmas themed content from her social accounts.
See Carey’s reaction below.
Britney Spears has a confession to make. On Tuesday (Dec. 26), the “Hold Me Closer” singer revealed that when she’s not online posting suggestive photos, she’s actually a major geek.
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“I try to be sexy and s–t on Instagram but those of you who really know me …. ‘Nerd of the Century,’” the pop star captioned a picture of her with glasses and holding a thumbs up, followed by a series of nerd with glasses emojis to drive her point home. “But hey I think I pulled it off !!!! Well not really …. or s–t maybe I did!!!!”
The glasses picture served as a break from Spears’ NSFW Instagram posts — the most recent Spears’ body baring snaps which arrived on Dec. 20 with a caption that claimed “Instagram doesn’t like posts of people revealing their bodies anymore.” Spears’ husband, Sam Asghari, revealed that he is not the biggest fan of the images, but previously defended her decision to post them and states that he dislikes seeing her get bullied for the posts via social media.
“The only person in the world that gets bullied for posting things like this,” the 28-year-old actor wrote in an Instagram comment, which he also reposted to his Stories on Dec. 16. “I personally preferred she never posted these but who am I to control someone that’s been under a microscope and been controlled for most of her life.”
See Spears’ new post about her nerdiness via Instagram below.
On Friday night (Dec. 2), Britney Spears raised eyebrows among her fans when she posted a loving tribute to her estranged sister Jamie Lynn Spears, with whom she’s been in a public war of words for a year.
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The Instagram post, shared on Britney’s 41st birthday, included two pics of Jamie Lynn — one of her holding a guitar and one of her posing in a kitchen — and gave photo credit to the younger Spears sister in the caption.
“It’s my b-day but you’re my heart so I’m thinking about you,” the caption reads. “Congratulations on being so brave, inspiring, and showing guts and glory in your show !!! You ain’t alone … if anybody knows what that feels like … I get it. My baby sister !!! I love you !!!”
The show the caption is likely referencing is the celebrity reality competition series Special Forces: The Ultimate Test, which premieres next month on Fox and features the younger Spears and other familiar faces competing in the same challenges used in the military’s special forces selection process.
The Spears sisters have been publicly estranged for the past year, with Britney calling out the release of Jamie Lynn’s tell-all memoir Things I Should Have Said and bringing up other grievances in lengthy Instagram captions. “Please please stop with these crazy lies for the Hollywood books !!!” Britney wrote in one such post back in January.
Britney’s fans aren’t convinced that the new Instagram post signals a truce for the feuding siblings. In fact, they’re more convinced that the elder Spears isn’t in charge of her own Instagram account. Billboard has reached out to a rep for Britney Spears to confirm that Britney is behind the new post.
See Britney’s new post and some of the confused fan reaction below.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL BRITNEY IS RUNNING HER INSTAGRAM ANYMORE #freebritney— Sailor Mars (@DanceDee) December 3, 2022
not jamie lynn spears hacking britney’s instagram😭— pl4yboy (@wh0r3vatic) December 3, 2022
Whoever is running the Instagram of Britney Spears right now needs to knock it off…they really are doing bizarre work over there right now. #FreeBritneyIG— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) December 3, 2022
Is Dua Lipa getting ready to release a single with another veteran rock musician? Signs point to… maybe. On Saturday (Nov. 26), the “Levitating” singer shared a photo of her posing in the studio next to the Rolling Stones‘ frontman Mick Jagger.
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“Sweeeet weeeek,” the pop star captioned a carousel of pictures of her smiling with the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, including one with a pair of Polaroids of the two sitting atop a music studio’s soundboard controls.
Neither Lipa nor Jagger gave a definitive statement as to what the photos together indicate, but fans in the comments section of the pop star’s post were buzzing with excitement over what the images could mean. “OMG Mick and you in a studio my body is shaking,” one fan wrote underneath the studio pics, while another added, “MICK JAGGER???? Oh we’re getting HITS.” Other fans speculated that it means Lipa’s follow up to Future Nostalgia is nearing, with one Instagram user simply asking her “DL3 when.”
If Lipa’s pictures with Jagger results in a collaboration, it won’t be the first time she has teamed up with a veteran musician for a song. The “Levitating” singer most notably worked with Elton John for their “Cold Heart” collaboration. The PNAU remix version was a big success for the pair, spending an entire calendar year on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 7, as well as 36 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
See Lipa’s photos with Mick Jagger on Instagram below.
