Twitter is gearing up to completely upend how its verification system works. According to The Verge and Platformer, new owner Elon Musk’s first big adjustment to the social media platform’s business model will be to start charging users if they want to become verified. The new subscription model will ben an extension of Twitter Blue, the current paid version of the platform, that will increase in price to $20 per month and give you a blue checkmark next to your name.
All users who are currently verified will also need to pay. Once the feature is rolled out, existing verified accounts will have 90 days to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue. Otherwise, they’ll use their verified status.
Speaking of which, this feature is apparently right around the corner. Musk is reportedly requiring employees to launch the feature by next Monday, November 7th, otherwise they’ll be fired.
The change will benefit two areas of Twitter: revenue and bot reduction on the platform. Twitter has famously failed to collect meaningful profit since its inception, and that’s something Musk plans to change with a revised business plan and delisting the platform from the New York Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Musk is also focused on reducing the amount of bots on Twitter by encouraging users to pay $20 per month to become verified, which guarantees those users are real human beings.
Twitter Blue currently costs $4.99 per month gets you access to a few nice perks, including the ability to edit tweets in the United States. There’s also ad-free articles from a select number of publishers, custom app icons, and time delays for sending tweets if you believe you’ve misspelt something. A verified badge will be the latest to join that list of features, and it could be the most compelling for a lot of users, especially those who are already verified.
You must log in to post a comment.