Elon Musk announced that the subscription price for Twitter Blue will be increased and those who are subscribed will get the special blue checkmark for verification status.
“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls***. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.
WARNING: The following contains strong language that some readers will find offensive.
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
He went on to explain that subscribers will get “priority in replies, mentions & search … ability to post long video & audio” and “half as many ads.”
They will also get a paywall bypass from “publishers willing to work with [Twitter],” Musk added in his thread about the subscription service.
The announcement comes after The Verge reported on Sunday that there were rumors that Twitter Blue would cost $20 per month and give anyone who paid verified status.
Before this, verified status on Twitter was free and given to those who applied and fulfilled the requirements of being authentic, notable and active.
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Twitter Blue, on the other hand, is a subscription service that gives users a more customizable experience, Twitter’s help center explains.
The service previously cost just $4.99 per month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
There has been backlash to Musk’s plans.
“If you don’t pay $8/month for Twitter Blue, then the platform will suppress your replies and visibility in search results. Free speech indeed,” one user tweeted.
If you don’t pay $8/month for Twitter Blue, then the platform will suppress your replies and visibility in search results. Free speech indeed. https://t.co/K2BYmZnQqe
— Marcus Hutchins (@MalwareTechBlog) November 1, 2022
But there are some in favor of the changes that Musk is bringing to Twitter.
“Basically Musk is saying ‘I’m taking away the blue checkmark as a verification badge and using it as a badge for a premium version of Twitter that includes a bunch of other features like fewer ads and better placement.’ Actually an alright change if you ask me,” one user tweeted.
Basically Musk is saying “I’m taking away the blue checkmark as a verification badge and using it as a badge for a premium version of Twitter that includes a bunch of other features like fewer ads and better placement.” Actually an alright change if you ask me.
— Noam Blum (temporary)→ (@neontaster) November 1, 2022
Musk himself noted that these changes will also help clean fake, spam and bot accounts off the platform.
“This will destroy the bots. If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scam, that account will be suspended. Essentially, this raises the cost of crime on Twitter by several orders of magnitude,” Musk tweeted.
Yes, this will destroy the bots. If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scam, that account will be suspended.
Essentially, this raises the cost of crime on Twitter by several orders of magnitude.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
The timeline for these changes is not yet clear.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.