Twitter's new owner billionaire Elon Musk announced that the verification blue tick in front of a user's name that authenticates the account will now be available at a price of eight dollars per month.
Musk blasted the "current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bulls**t.”
Power to the people! Blue for USD 8 per month, he tweeted adding that the price is adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.
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
With that price, he said, users will also get priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which he said is essential to defeating spam/scams, as well as the ability to post long video and audio, half as many ads, and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the social media company.
He said the monthly payments from users for the blue tick will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.
This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
A user asked Musk, “What happens when a random user pays $8 and changes his Display Name to Elon Musk, using your same profile pic and starts tweeting like he's you?
Verified checkmarks exist so people know they follow the real person.”
Responding to this, Musk said, “That already happens very frequently.”
A blue tick signifies that a particular account is verified because it's notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category.
Aimed at thousands of Twitter users complaining about the idea to charge $8 per month for blue tick, Musk said, “To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8.”
To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022