Facebook to remove gray verification badges from Pages on 30 October

Facebook has announced that it will remove gray verification badges from Pages on 30 October, calling the checkmarks “more confusing than helpful”.

Gray verification badges were introduced to the platform in 2015 after the exclusive rollout of sought after blue badges for Pages or profiles that represented public figures, media organizations and global brands. While blue badges were, and still are, unable to request, Page owners could easily apply for a gray badge through the Settings page on Facebook.

Page owners will see a red banner appear on their Facebook page warning them that grey badges will be removed at the end of the month, with the social media giant touting that they are “working on better ways to show that Pages are authentic.” – A “Learn More” link will take publishers to their Support Inbox that shows the message below:

We’re always working on better ways to help people understand more about the Pages they interact with. We introduced grey verification badges in 2015 to show which Pages for businesses and organisations are authentic. However, we’ve found that they can be more confusing than helpful, so we’re removing them on 30 October.