After facing criticism for his plan to charge Twitter users $19.99 a month to obtain or maintain a verified account, Elon Musk has a counterproposal: maybe $8?
Under Musk, Twitter is working to update its existing subscription product known as “Twitter Blue,” which currently costs $4.99 a month, to include the verification feature. According to the company’s internal planning documents seen by CNN, the coveted blue badge could also be stripped from verified users if they don’t start paying the higher price of $19.99 for the subscription product within 90 days.
The news quickly sparked outrage and disbelief among some longtime users of the social network, including author Stephen King, who has nearly seven million followers on the platform.
“$20 a month to keep my blue check?” he tweeted on Monday, followed by an expletive. “They should pay me. If this is instituted, I will walk away like Enron.” Following up later in a reply, King wrote: “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.”
Elon Musk responded to King on Tuesday morning with his most explicit acknowledgment yet of the proposal to charge for account verification. “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot entirely trust advertisers,” he said. “How about $8?”
The exchange highlights how tenuous some of Musk’s initial plans for Twitter may be, and also the urgency he faces to increase revenue and profit for a company that has lost money for most of its history. Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, an amount he admitted was “obviously overpaid” to the company. He also lined up a substantial amount of debt financing to pay off the deal.
Since completing the acquisition of the social media platform last week, the billionaire has moved quickly to reorganize Twitter, including dissolving the board and firing its top executives. In tweets over the weekend, Musk questioned his followers about the possibility of bringing back Vine, Twitter’s defunct short video service, and said “absolutely” in response to a user’s suggestion to rethink the platform’s character limits. . It’s unclear how committed he is to pursuing any of these changes.
On Sunday, Musk tweeted, “The entire verification process is being overhauled right now.”
Even before the deal was finalized, the company’s new owner suggested the possibility of linking verification to a paid subscription service. In April, Musk said that paid Twitter subscribers “should receive an authentication checkmark.” In another tweet, he said, “Price is likely to be approximately $2/month but I pay 12 months upfront and account is unchecked for 60 days (note CC chargebacks) and suspended no refund if used for fraud /spam.”
While the blue verification badge came about as a status symbol for users, it is also designed to ensure that people can determine which accounts are authentic and which are not, particularly for celebrities, brands, and other influential accounts. If Musk were to create a paid barrier to verification, there are concerns that it could make it difficult to distinguish whether a notable name is bot or not.
Source: CNN Brasil
Joe Jameson, a technology journalist with over 2 years of experience, writes for top online news websites. Specializing in the field of technology, Joe provides insights into the latest advancements in the industry. Currently, he contributes to covering the world stock market.
