Accounts with verified badges are treated like nothing less than royalty on social media. According to Instagram, a verified badge is “a tool to help people find the real accounts of public figures ...

New references in Instagram’s code suggest the company could be developing a paid verification feature following the rollout of a similar system at Twitter under Elon Musk. Recently discovered code ...

While scrolling through Instagram, you’ll notice some accounts have a blue check beside their name. That badge verifies the account as the authentic presence of a public figure, celebrity, or brand.

That coveted blue check mark: Being verified is a privileged status on many social media sites, but perhaps none more than Instagram. Becoming a verified Instagrammer can be difficult, but if you’re ...