Meta is now rolling out its new Meta Verified comment filter on Instagram after experimenting with it over the past few months, providing another way to prioritize engagement from celebrities and people who've paid for verification in the app.
Some users are now seeing a new comment filter option in the app, to sort comments on posts by algorithmic filtering, or by Meta Verified, so you can more specifically engage with users who have a blue checkmark account.

Which would have some value for paying subscribers in giving them an extra level of exclusivity through a dedicated sorting option. But perhaps not so much for regular users and creators.

Theoretically, Meta Verified paid accounts are more likely to be humans because bots can't and won't pay. Therefore, if Elon Musk has been pushing for subscription models, then the concept could work as a strategy where giving importance to paying accounts makes you more certain that the person you're dealing with isn't a bot and spammer, which means you can make sure of giving importance to your engagements.

It would also help the creators in getting connections with more influential users of the app since they'd either be celebrities or already provided a blue tick by IG, or users willing to pay for it; which presumably are the users seeking building their following on IG.

So there may be opportunities there, but not sure it has a heap of value as a sorting tool.

As mentioned, Instagram has been developing the option over the past few months with the initial versions of it being spotted in the app since October on both Facebook and IG.

Now, it seems, with so many more people getting on, that might be something worth looking into and seeing which of the blue-tick accounts are commenting on your posts. Maybe you don't care.

But it does seem to be a lesser component in the verification product Meta is offering broadly, but it will definitely lead to new opportunities for collaboration and exposure.

New comment sorting feature seems to be slowly rolling out – we've asked IG for more information and will update this post when/if we receive an answer.

UPDATE (2/15): Meta just updated to say that this feature is still in the testing phase and not something it plans to roll out to all users at this point.