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Meta launches paid subscription, for whom and why?

Published

2 years ago

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by Julie Jammot

SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES — Meta platform users will soon be able to follow in Twitter denizens’ footsteps in affixing a blue badge to their profiles as a token of authenticity and boosting their posts — all for a fee.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the subscription service for platforms Facebook and Instagram on Sunday, after almost 20 years of defending an economic model based on free services and advertising.

Two-speed system

Subscribers to Meta Verified will be able to verify their account on Facebook and Instagram by providing an official ID and getting a blue badge, indicating they are who they say they are.

Their account will also be better protected against identity theft thanks to proactive monitoring.

If problems arise, these subscribers will be able to contact customer service teams directly.

And their posts, photos and videos will have a higher profile than those of non-subscribers by appearing atop search results, commentaries and recommendations.

Meta is also promising new creative functionalities.

Meta Verified will be rolled out in Australia and New Zealand this week before coming to markets in the United States and other countries.

The new service will cost $11.99 a month for users who sign up via the Internet and $14.99 for those using mobile apps. The higher price is to offset commissions taken by Apple on the iPhone or Google on smartphones operated by its Android system.

Priority for influencers

The subscription will be voluntary. And only users who are over the age of 18 will be allowed to subscribe. The service is not yet available to businesses but Meta does not rule this out in the future.

The new service mainly targets content creators.

Meta told AFP it conceived of the subscription idea because of requests from creators who are on the rise in their business undertakings.

Meta is acting as traditional social networks are seeing their numbers of users and their revenue both decline.

In 2022, Meta saw its ad revenue decline for the first time since the California-based group went public in 2012.

Inflation is eating away at online advertisers’ budgets, and users’ attention is divided among many apps. The latter can not harvest as much personal data as they could before the intervention of regulatory authorities — mainly in Europe — and Apple to better protect people’s online privacy.

So the battle among platforms “is becoming a bit of a battle for attracting and retaining the creators, because, at the end of the day, it’s the creators who have the content that keeps the eyeballs,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

But that is not enough.

Snapchat, Reddit and Discord are all proposing that users cough up a few dollars a month for supplementary tools.

Twitter, bought by Elon Musk last year, made a chaotic launch of an account verification feature that costs $7 a month on the Internet and $11 a month on an iPhone.

Twitter Blue’s coveted checkmark lets users promote their posts better, see much less advertising and have more writing freedom, with longer tweets.

Milanesi said she thinks Meta wants to diversify its revenue sources.

After Twitter launched its subscription service, other social media groups thought “well, we might as well try,” she told AFP.

“Justifying that from a creator perspective I think is more of a marketing pitch than of true value to creators,” she added.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

on

26 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

on

25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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