The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, on Tuesday, said Twitter will charge $8 per month to verify users’ accounts, noting that the plan would upend the platform’s “current lords and peasants system” and create a new revenue stream for the company.
The announcement comes days after Musk took sole control of the social media giant in a contentious $44 billion deal.
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” he tweeted, in reference to the platform’s famous blue checkmark that signals a verified account.
The new plan’s pricing would be adjusted by country “proportionate to purchasing power parity,” Musk added in the replies to his original tweet, and would also include “priority” in replying to and searching posts, which he called “essential to defeat spam/scam”.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss noted that there would also be expanded video abilities, fewer ads, and the possibility for users to get a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us”.
“This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,” Musk added.
In addition to offering verification privileges, the new program would take over the existing functions of Twitter Blue – currently available for $5 per month – which, for example, allows users to edit their tweets.
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Musk floated the $8 subscription fee idea earlier on Tuesday in a tweet reply to author Stephen King, who was complaining about reports that the verification service could cost $20 per month.
“We need to pay the bills somehow!
“Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?” the world’s wealthiest man stated.
The proposal is only one part of a series of sweeping changes the 51-year-old entrepreneur has implemented at Twitter, with the entire board, including CEO Parag Agrawal, let go last week.
Reports had emerged that Musk, whose account bio currently reads ‘Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator’, plans to fire some 75 per cent of his new company’s 7,500 employees.
Musk’s previous comments condemning Twitter’s content moderation policies as heavy-handed – as well as his frequent posts of boundary-testing memes – have given pause to some advertisers, the company’s main source of revenue.
He tried to calm the nerves by reassuring that the site would not become a “free-for-all hellscape”, and announced the formation of a content moderation council.
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