Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Elon Musk’s Twitter reportedly plans to start charging users for verification badges.
- Verified Twitter users may soon have to pay $20 to keep their blue checkmarks.
- Musk has apparently given employees a November 7 deadline to implement the change.
Elon Musk is just settling into his role as the owner and top boss of Twitter, and it looks like his first move as the self-proclaimed “Chief Twit” is to start charging verified users for that coveted blue tick.
According to Platformer and The Verge, Musk has issued a directive to make the Twitter Blue subscription service more premium. What currently costs $4.99 a month for some additional features will jump to $19.99 to include the verified badge.
Employees told to implement the change or risk getting fired.
Under the current plan, verified users would be given 90 days to subscribe to the costlier Twitter Blue or lose their blue tick.
Will you pay $20/month to keep your Twitter verification badge?
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Furthermore, the reports say that employees tasked with the new paid blue tick project have been told to meet a November 7 deadline to launch the feature, or they will be fired.
Musk’s first action when he took over Twitter three days ago was to fire former CEO Parag Agarwal, CFO Ned Segal, and head of legal Vijaya Gadde. He has long spoken about his desire to make radical changes at Twitter, including a long-term plan to turn it into some sort of a Super app. However, making verified accounts paid may not be the best course of action to keep loyal users on board.
Simply charging money for a blue tick might make the feature less appealing.
It’s unclear if Musk’s Twitter will throw in a verification badge for everyone who pays for the new Twitter Blue subscription or if verification will continue to be a privileged feature.
The current Twitter requirements state that accounts must be “authentic, notable, and active” to receive the blue badge.
If you were to apply for verification today, “your account must represent or otherwise be associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand, in line with the notability criteria,” note Twitter’s guidelines.
Simply charging for the blue tick might make it a less appealing feature. On the other hand, people paying $20 for Twitter Blue would not be happy if they didn’t get the checkmark bundled into the service the same as verified users.
Twitter hasn’t acknowledged the reports for now. We’ll have to wait and see how the platform rolls out the changes, if at all.
