Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44billion
(Picture: REUTERS)Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has announced the platform’s coveted blue tick is set to cost users $8 (£7) a month.
Twitter users will have to pay per month for the privilege of having a blue tick under reforms brought forward by Mr Musk.
The billionaire new owner of the social media platform said he wants to scrap the current model, where the status symbol can be applied for and awarded at the discretion of the site’s moderators.
Instead, for the monthly fee, anyone will be able to get a blue tick. This will bring privileges such as getting priority position in replies to tweets, the ability to post longer video and audio, and these users will receive half the usual number of adverts.
Reports of how much this would cost users vary from £7 a month to £17 but Mr Musk appeared to confirm the price - at least in the US.
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” the billionaire said on Twitter, criticising the old method of blue tick verification as a “lords and peasants system”.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Mr Musk, who is chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, bought Twitter last week for $44billion with aspirations to take on fake accounts and champion “free speech”.
In addition, he clarified there will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians.
He said the price of the ‘blue tick’ would be adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.
Mr Musk, who went to supermodel Heidi Klum’s Halloween party in a red suit of armour, has changed his biography to read “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator”.
The charge for blue tick privileges drew scepticism after original reports that said the charge could be $20 (£17) monthly.
Many on the platform echoed the statement of author Stephen King, who wrote in response to reports of changes that instead Twitter “should pay me”.
Mr Musk wrote to Mr King saying, “We need to pay the bills somehow!”
It has not been clarified when the change could be made but it is understood current verified users will have 90 days to opt in to a subscription plan or risk losing their blue tick.
