Facebook verification is a method of affirming or substantiating that your Facebook account actually belongs to you. Usually, you need a valid government issued an identification card. This is followed by a blue or grey checkmark to show that Facebook has verified your identity.
You can verify your Facebook account and Facebook page as well. However, getting verified on Facebook is not as easy as it used to be.
Now, before Facebook can verify your account, you must be a public figure. If you actually are, unfortunately, your status does not guarantee that you will be able to get that coveted blue checkmark.
In order to be eligible for account verification, you not only have to be someone important, but you also need to be generating public interest and have a completed account that complies with Facebook’s rules and regulations.
This simply means that you need to have a proper profile picture, a cover photo, a name that is in accordance with Facebook guidelines, some content posted to your page and the ‘Follow’ function enabled. However, even having all that does not guarantee you Facebook verification.
While you could previously request a blue verification badge by providing the reason for that, as well as the photo of your government-issued ID, things have changed.
You can no longer make a request, so all you can do now is hope that Facebook recognizes you and grants your request. That said, if you want people to believe that your Facebook page is actually yours, you can link it to other social media platforms or your official website.
Verifying a Facebook Page
The Facebook page verification usually comes with a grey checkmark. Many people don’t know about this. In theory, these grey checkmarks were meant for local organizations and businesses, but it seems like the practice has not really caught on.
Technically, some pages are still able to get ‘grey’ verification for themselves to this day, but it is rather rare. If you have a page, you can go to its settings and see for yourself if the option to get verified is there. In the ‘General’ tab, there should be an option that says ‘Page verification’. If you have it, you can verify your page and get a grey checkmark by providing the public phone number for your organization. You will get a call from Facebook and receive a 4-digit code.
Alternatively, you can choose the option that says ‘Verify this page with documents’. In this case, you will need to upload documents with your organization’s address and name. Either way, after a few days, you should hear from Facebook and hopefully get that grey checkmark. Facebook does not sell them, so do not believe any offers that claim otherwise.
When it comes to verifying Facebook pages, the situation is pretty much the same as with accounts. As long as the page belongs to an eligible media organization, brand or anything of the sort, then there is a chance that Facebook might grant it the blue checkmark.
Nevertheless, requests for verification are just as unavailable for pages as they are for accounts. Before, the system worked in the same way as for the accounts, only instead of the ID, the person running the page needed to provide an official document with a watermark/seal of the organization.
You don’t need to worry too much about a blue or grey checkmark that can disappear any day Facebook decides. Just apply and wait for their response.