Musk: Twitter blue tick only in $8 subscription Musk: Twitter blue tick only in $8 subscription

New Twitter owner Elon Musk charges for user verification. The coveted white check mark on a blue verification badge costs eight dollars a month in the United States, the tech billionaire announced on Twitter on Tuesday (local time).

Until now, Twitter had given away the check marks, which guarantee the authenticity of the Twitter profile, for free. Especially the accounts of celebrities, companies and users with a lot of followers, such as politicians or journalists, were marked with it.

In the past, however, there were always controversial discussions about verification, because the award criteria were not transparent enough for many users. Musk explained that Twitter currently uses a “princes and pawns system” to decide who has a check mark or not. “That’s bullshit.”

Musk wants to integrate the verification hook and other benefits into the existing “Twitter Blue” subscription, which so far includes bookmarks, a special reading mode and the ability to correct a tweet already sent. So far, though, it’s only available in Canada and the US and costs just under five dollars. Prices of up to $20 per month have been discussed for the extended subscription.

Criticism of Musk’s plans

Musk defended his plans on Wednesday. “To all the whiners, please keep complaining, but it’s eight dollars.” Critics were not only bothered by the price of the verification. They fear that the purpose of the verification check, which is to guarantee the authenticity of an account, is being jeopardized.

Musk wants to lure paying customers with even more benefits in the future. In the future, tweets from subscription accounts will receive preferential treatment. Subscribers should also only see half of the usual ads. They should also be able to publish long videos and audio content on the platform. At the same time, Musk invited publishers to make content behind a paywall available to Twitter Blue subscribers.

Musk is under pressure to refinance $44 billion purchase following Twitter acquisition. In addition to his own fortune, he has taken out bank loans and brought in other investors. According to a report in the New York Times, he owes Twitter some of the costs, totaling about $13 billion. As a result, about a billion dollars in interest would be owed annually, more than Twitter has received in a year so far. (aeg/sda/awp/dpa)