What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
The coveted Twitter blue tick won’t be free anymore. It will come at a price – of $8 or ₹220 per month.
Elon Musk has said his newly acquired brand will charge $8 per month to Twitter users who want the much-coveted symbol of a blue tick signifying verifying account.
Musk, who acquired the social media giant in a $44 billion takeover, said that it was “essential to defeat spam and scam”.
Currently, there is no charge for the blue tick, which is usually associated with high-profile figures.
Giving details of his plans, Musk said that the paid users will have priority in replies and searches and will have to face half as many advertisements.
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.
Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk, the world’s richest man, said on Twitter. Taking potshots at Twitter’s much-discussed old method of blue tick verification, Musk called it a “lords and peasants system”.
Before Musk took over, Twitter’s method of verifying users included an online application form. Also, the blue tick is reserved for certain people, which includes celebrities, politicians and journalists, who can be the target of impersonation.
Twitter introduced the system in 2009 after it faced a lawsuit accusing it of not doing enough to prevent imposter accounts. However, Twitter’s selective approach on the topic has not gone down well with many as they accused it of being biased and termed the process as arbitrary.
An astute businessman, Musk is aware of the fact that his newly acquired company has not posted a profit in years. He is also facing the daunting task to revamp Twitter’s business.
Interestingly, in a long run, Musk wants to reduce Twitter’s reliance on advertising.
He also said that publishers willing to work with the company will get a paywall bypass, enabling Twitter 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,” he said ending his tweet thread which received over 280K likes within 3 hours.
Only days before, it was widely speculated that Musk was planning to bring big changes in the verification process. Reports suggested that he was going to introduce a “subscription fee” for the coveted “Blue tick”.
“Whole verification process is being revamped right now”, Musk said in his tweet without giving more details.
The whole verification process is being revamped right now
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2022
Earlier, Twitteratis went crazy over reports suggesting Elon Musk wants users to pay $20 per month if they want to keep the verified tag or popular ‘blue tick’.
Other reports claimed that Musk may charge around $5 per month from the users willing to keep the verified tag.
The $20 fee report attracted widespread denial from people as they claimed that they won’t be paying for the blue check.
We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Famous novelist Stephen King tweeted, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*%k that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
Soon after, Elon Musk appeared on the scene with a suggestion.
Replying to Stephen King, he said, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
“I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls.”, he added.
It is pertinent to note that Elon Musk had put the Twitter deal on hold after he escalated the issue of bots with the Twitter executives amid the negotiations to acquire the company. The subject matter was also brought to Court’s attention after Twitter filed a lawsuit against him.
