Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has announced that the platform’s coveted ‘blue tick’ will now cost users $8 (£7) a month and slammed the current system as “bulls***”.
In a tweet, Musk said: “Twitter’s current gentlemen and peasant system of who does or does not have a blue tick is bulls***.
“Power to the people! Blue for $8/mo.”
Musk said the cost would be “adjusted by country, in proportion to purchasing power parity.”
For the new monthly fee, Musk also said, users will get “priority in replies, mentions and searches,” as well as the ability to post long videos and audio clips.
And it offered subscribers a paywall bypass from “publishers willing to work with us.”
Read more: Super app or ‘Wild West’? The future of Twitter under Elon Musk
The fee would give the platform a “revenue stream to reward content creators,” he said.
The blue tick next to a person’s Twitter account lets users know that a public interest account is authentic.
To get the blue badge, Twitter states, your account must be “authentic, visible and active.” There is a six-step verification process.
Last month, Musk completed his high-profile $44bn (£38bn) acquisition of the social media platform, with a self-proclaimed remit to ensure that everyone’s timeline becomes the ultimate home of free speech.
The announcement came after Twitter’s head of advertising, Sarah Personette, tweeted that she had joined a number of executives leaving the platform.
Ms Personette, who was chief customer officer, said she had resigned from her post and was following other colleagues out the door, including former chief executive Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal, whom Musk fired last week. passed.
Hate content
Her resignation comes at a time when advertisers and users alike have wondered whether Musk will overturn former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter ban — and perhaps lead to an increase in divisive rhetoric on the platform.
Already, pundits have noted that hate content has skyrocketed since Musk closed his Twitter acquisition.
Use of the n-word has increased by nearly 500% on the platform, according to the Network Infection Research Institute, which identifies “cyber threats.”
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