Mark Zuckerberg must have gotten fed up with Elon Musk hogging the social media headlines, because yesterday he announced a big update to his own online platforms.

The Meta CEO introduced a subscription service for Instagram and Facebook that will allow users to purchase blue badges that mark them as verified. Known as Meta Verified, the service will launch in Australia and New Zealand this week and hit other countries “soon.”

Similar to Twitter Blue, Meta Verified eschews the traditional concept of the blue checkmark as a gift bestowed to notable people like politicians and celebs. Now, it’s open to anyone who’s willing to pay. But there are differences between Twitter’s and Meta’s plans:

• Meta’s is more expensive, costing $11.99 on the web and $14.99 on mobile. Twitter’s costs $8 and $11, respectively.
• Meta will also require Meta Verified users to confirm their identity using a government-issued ID, something Twitter doesn’t require.

What your $15 gets you with Meta Verified: You’ll get higher “visibility and reach” on the platforms and increased access to customer support, among other perks.

What’s the strategy here, Zuck?

There are a couple ways Meta Verified could help Zuck sleep better at night.

1. Zuck said the overarching goal of the service is “increasing authenticity and security across our services.” Meta Verified could help tackle some of the fake account issues that have plagued the company’s platforms.
2. With its metaverse dreams a long way off and revenue on the decline, Meta needs to kickstart growth ASAP. It’s hoping revenue from subscriptions can offset some of the damage that Apple’s privacy changes and economic uncertainty have dealt to its advertising business.

Zoom out: This is a big deal—not only for Meta, but for your experience on social media. By promising increased reach in exchange for $$$, Zuck is cementing social media’s evolution from a tool to keep up with your high school friends to a pay-to-play entertainment medium catering to professional content creators. As Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier noted, “Get your good friends a group chat if you haven’t already.”

Did an F-22 bring down a hobby balloon? The FBI is exploring the possibility after an Illinois hobbyist group said one of its balloons went “missing in action” in the same area and on the same day that a US military jet took out an object over Canada’s Yukon territory. The group, called the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade in a reference to Up, did not draw any connection between its balloon and the destroyed object. But if it was theirs, it means the US used a $439,000 missile to bring down a ~$12 balloon.

Jimmy Carter enters hospice care. The former president will forgo further medical intervention and has “decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family,” Carter’s charity said on Saturday. At 98, Carter is the longest living president in US history and has outlasted two presidents who took office after him. He lives with his wife, Rosalynn Carter, at their modest home in Georgia, but has had a few recent hospital stays.

The third Ant-Man keeps Marvel’s winning streak alive. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is on track to earn $118 million at the domestic box office over Presidents Day weekend—a sign that the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains a strong pull at theaters even as it enters its fifth phase. With its strong opening weekend, Ant-Man also extended a mind-blowing Marvel streak: It became the 31st consecutive MCU release to debut at No. 1 at the box office, per CNBC.

Several of the most iconic characters in children’s literature, including Augustus Gloop, the Oompa Loompas, and Mrs. Twit, are being described with more inclusive language after publishers made edits to some of author Roald Dahl’s books.

Puffin, the prestigious children’s publisher, and the Roald Dahl Story Company, which Netflix acquired in 2021, worked with sensitivity readers to review Dahl’s texts and give them an update so his stories “can continue to be enjoyed by all today.” The edits generally focus on removing potentially offensive language related to gender, race, weight, mental health, and violence, according to the Independent. 

Some of those changes:

• Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now “enormous” and not “fat.”
• In a gender-neutral revision, the Oompa Loompas in that same book are now described as “small people” rather than “small men.”
• In The Witches, where 59 changes were reportedly made by publishers, a line was added to a paragraph that explains why the witches are bald underneath their wigs: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”

These changes sparked a firestorm. Critics unloaded on the edits, accusing them of being clumsy, erasing the author’s intended meaning, and representing political correctness run amok. Acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie tweeted, “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship.”

Mardi Gras: New Orleans loves to party all year round, but on Tuesday, aka “Fat Tuesday,” the city will go buck-wild with parades to celebrate Mardis Gras. Down in Rio de Janeiro, Carnival is back in full force and an expected 46 million people will join in on the fun, which lasts through Wednesday.

One year of the war in Ukraine: Friday, Feb. 24, marks one year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday, VP Kamala Harris said the US has determined that Russia committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

Shopping insight: Walmart and Home Depot will report earnings this week and share an important update about the American consumer…who seems to be holding up pretty well, despite inflation.

Everything else…

• Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.
• MLB spring training officially kicks off on Friday.
• The cinematic event of the year, perhaps of the millennium, arrives in theaters on Friday: Cocaine Bear.

Stat: Seems like everyone is getting into the balloon-smashing trend these days. At a VIP art event in Miami on Thursday, a woman tapped a $42,000 balloon dog sculpture by artist Jeff Koons, causing it to shatter into thousands of pieces on the ground. It isn’t a total calamity: The sculpture is covered by insurance, and collectors might even see a boost in value, since the number of these rare blue dog balloon artworks has shrunk from 799 to 798.

Quote: “F— you, motherf—er.”

Those were the final words uttered by comedian Richard Belzer, according to his longtime friend. Belzer, who died on Sunday at 78, was best known for playing detective John Munch on Law & Order: SVU and Homicide: Life on the Street. RIP, .

Read: Why humans have been unsuccessful in creating an artificial heart. (Nautilus)

Go inside the NBA: Literally. An upcoming feature in the NBA app lets you insert yourself into highlights.

Learn how things are made: From chess pieces to baked ziti, this site will show you…how things are made.

Musical road: Driving on this one road in Hungary sounds pretty good.

Tetris, the movie: It’s real and it looks pretty intense, tbh.

The latest in tech: Tech Brew keeps you up to date on the innovations shaping our world. Check it out.

Pick me: Don’t miss The Motley Fool Stock Advisor’s $79 intro offer for new members. Their stock-picking service can clue you in to what’s potentially the next hot tech stock.*

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Turntable: Got some extra time on your hands with the day off? Knock out a half hour playing our word game.

Presidents Day trivia

On Presidents Day, here’s a classic trivia question about…presidents:

There are four US state capitals that are named after presidents. Do you know them?

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