By John Ikani
The new Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Elon Musk is now considering charging $8 per month for verified accounts after backlash from Twitter power users for his plan to charge $19.99 a month to get or keep a verified account.
He said, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
Further, he explained by saying, “I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls.”
We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
Twitter first introduced verified accounts in 2009. The goal was not to generate revenue but to increase trust in the social network by providing a visual signifier that notable account holders, such as celebrities, politicians, companies, entertainment brands, news organisations and other accounts “of public interest” were the real deal and not impostors or parody accounts.
Since completing the acquisition of the social media platform on last week, the billionaire has moved quickly to shake up Twitter, including disbanding the board and firing its top execs.
In tweets over the weekend, Musk polled his followers about whether to bring back Vine, Twitter’s defunct short-form video service, and said “absolutely” in response to a user’s suggestion to rethink the platform’s character limits.
On Sunday, Musk tweeted: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
Even before the deal was completed, Musk suggested the possibility of tying verification to a paid subscription service. In April, Musk said Twitter’s paid subscribers “should get an authentication checkmark.”
It’s unclear how committed Musk is to pursuing any or all of these changes.
