Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has not shied away from the fact that he wants to make sweeping changes at the social media network.
After the completion of the $44 billion takeover deal, Musk fired top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, the chief financial officer, and Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust, and safety.
Now, there are reports that Twitter may now charge $20 monthly for them to keep their verification badge. This is part of efforts by Elon Musk to boost social media platforms’ revenue.
The change was announced by Musk in a tweet on Sunday, which reads: “Whole verification process is being revamped right now.” No more details were provided on what changes might be coming to the app’s blue ticks, leading to speculations.
This would also apply to those who already have a blue tick (which includes Musk himself) and users would have to subscribe to Twitter Blue – a monthly payment that gives the most engaged people on Twitter exclusive access to premium features – for $4.99 (€5.02) a month, or they’ll lose their verified status.
According to one of the reports, Twitter users with the verified badge will have 90 days to subscribe to the app’s premium service before being stripped of their blue ticks, and the authority that comes with it.
At the moment, the blue check marks are only given to users who represent a notable institution, brand, or company, who can provide proof of their identity (a link to an official website, ID verification, or an official email address), and who are active on the platform.
