Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, is reportedly planning to charge users $20 per month if they want to become or stay verified on the platform, according to multiple reports.
Twitter executives are “strongly considering” requiring that those with the free check mark on their profile pay $5 each month for a Twitter Blue subscription or lose their badge, Platformer’s Casey Newton reported Sunday afternoon. Executives have spent the weekend talking about the idea and making plans about the measure, sources told Newton.
A report from The Verge, however, suggested it could cost more than that. That report states that Twitter is planning to charge $20 for a new Twitter Blue subscription, and that blue checkmarks will be lost to users if they don’t pay up. According to the report, users will be given 90 days to subscribe before losing their blue tick. Employees working on the project have apparently been given until Nov. 7 to implement the changes.
The blue check mark was created to let people know that a given Twitter account is the genuine article. To qualify, accounts must be “notable, authentic and active.” That includes accounts of government officials; people representing prominent brands; news organizations and journalists; activists; celebrities; and athletes.
They’re also fairly rare, so are seen by some as a status symbol. In 2021, only 360,000 accounts, or 0.2% of Twitter’s monetizable daily active users, were verified. Still, such a requirement could provide the company with a new revenue stream at a time when it’s reportedly getting ready for layoffs under the new ownership of Elon Musk.
Twitter Blue is a subscription service that offers several premium perks, including allowing you to undo a tweet, read news ad-free, edit a published tweet, organize your bookmarks into folders, pin conversations in your DMs and upload videos up to 10 minutes long. When it launched in 2021, the service cost $3, but the month cost went up in October to $5.
