Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The new owner of microblogging site, Twitter, Elon Musk, has announced that the platform will start charging users $8 per month for its blue verification mark.
The development comes days after Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the company.
Musk, in a tweet on Tuesday, said: “Twitter’s current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/month. Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.”
Musk also said that the verified accounts will also get “priority in replies, mentions and search, ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads.”
“The users would also have the ability to bypass paywalls for publishers willing to work with us,” he added.
He said this will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.
“There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians,” Musk said.
Musk had on Sunday said Twitter is revamping its verification process.
A US-based tech website, The Verge, had on Monday reported that Musk’s company plans to raise its optional $4.99-a-month premium subscription called Twitter Blue to $19.99 per month.
Citing Twitter’s internal correspondence, the website said the plan involves making verification one of the features of the platform’s subscription service, Twitter Blue, which is currently optional and costs $4.99 per month.
Verified users would now be given 90 days to subscribe by paying the new rate or face losing their blue tick, it reports.
It said that employees were told of the project on Sunday and have been told they need to launch the scheme by November 7, or risk losing their jobs.
Musk wants subscriptions to increase to account for half of the business’s total income.
