Twitter To Start Charging $20 Monthly For Blue Tick

New Twitter owner Elon Musk has said the process of gaining a prestigious “blue tick” will be revised, amid reports the firm could start charging $20 (£17) per month to be verified.

Mr Musk tweeted the verification process was being revamped, days after taking over the social media giant.

A blue tick is currently free and a way of signalling an account is authentic.
Mr Musk completed his $44bn (£37.9bn) takeover on Friday, and has renamed himself as Chief Twit on Twitter.

During months of legal wrangling leading up to the acquisition, the billionaire repeatedly expressed concerns about the verification process, and the number of spam and bot accounts he believes litter the site.

Mr Musk’s tweet, on Sunday, did not give any more details about what exactly might change.

But according to tech website The Verge, which cited internal correspondence, Twitter now wants to charge people $19.99 per month to keep their blue tick verification status.

It says the plan involves quadrupling the price for Twitter Blue – the company’s subscription service – and making verification one of its features.

Verified users would be given 90 days to subscribe or face losing their blue tick, it reports.

Employees were told of the project on Sunday and have been told they need to launch the scheme by 7 November or risk losing their jobs, it added.

Twitter Blue was launched last summer, and gives subscribers access to various premium features including the option to undo a tweet.

It is currently optional and costs $4.99 per month.

While there has been no official confirmation of the plan, on Monday Mr Musk appeared to acknowledge the speculation in a new tweet which said: “On no, all our diabolical plans have been revealed!!”

Source: BBC