SAN FRANCISCO: New Twitter head Elon Musk said the site will charge $8 per month to verify users’ accounts, arguing the plan would upend the platform’s “current lords & peasants system” and create a new revenue stream for the company.
The announcement comes days after the world’s wealthiest man took sole control of the social media giant in a contentious $44 billion deal.
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” he tweeted, in reference to the platform’s famous blue checkmark that signals a verified, authentic account.
The new plan’s pricing would be adjusted by country “proportionate to purchasing power parity,” Musk added in the replies to his original tweet, and would also include “priority” in replying to and searching posts, which he called “essential to defeat spam/scam.”
There would also be expanded video abilities, fewer ads, and the possibility for users to get a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us,” he said. “This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,” Musk tweeted.
In addition to offering verification privileges, the new program would take over the existing functions of Twitter Blue — currently available for $5 per month — which, for example, allows users to edit their tweets.
