Elon Musk slashes Twitter verification fee to $8

San Francisco: Twitter Inc will charge $8 a month for its Blue service, including the sought-after “verified” badge, new boss Elon Musk said as he tries to boost subscriptions and make the social media network less dependent make on ads. 

“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue tick is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue at $8/month,” Musk said in a tweet, adding that the price will be adjusted by “land proportional purchasing power parity.”

A blue check next to a person’s username on the social media platform means Twitter has confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company claiming it. Twitter is currently free for most users.

Billionaire Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last week.

Since the acquisition, he has acted quickly to make his mark on the company by firing the previous chief and other top executives.

Twitter’s ad chief Sarah Personette tweeted on Tuesday that she had resigned last week, adding to the uncertainty for advertisers.

Musk said on Tuesday that subscribers with blue checks would get priority on replies, mentions and search, and they’d be able to post longer videos and audio. They would see half as many ads.

He also offered subscribers a paywall bypass of “publishers willing to work with us.”

Musk’s comments follow media reports that he looked at the profile verification process and how the blue ticks were given. Twitter used to give these to notable profiles based on its own criteria.

More than 80% of Twitter users who took part in a recent poll said they wouldn’t pay for the tick. About 10% said they were willing to pay $5 a month.

Twitter already has a subscription service called Twitter Blue, which launched last June and offers access to features such as an option to edit tweets.

Amid speculation that Twitter will soon be charging verified users a $20 monthly fee for blue checks, bestselling author Stephen King tweeted, “If that gets implemented, I’ll be out like Enron.”

SOURCE: REUTERS