Elon Musk has revealed more about his plan to charge users for a blue verified checkmark on Twitter, including an $8-per-month fee, down from the previously reported $20.
In a tweet thread on Tuesday, Musk explained that he’s opening up the blue verified checkmark option to all users in an effort to fight bots and spam accounts. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit,” he wrote. “Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.”
Still, not everyone will want to pay for the blue checkmark when it's currently free and used as a way to distinguish real accounts from imposters. "If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scam, that account will be suspended," Musk says.
However, Musk says the $8-per-month subscription will also offer additional benefits, including a “priority in replies, mentions and search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam,” he wrote.
This means paid users should appear higher in replies, mentions, and searches on Twitter, pushing non-paying users and spam accounts further down. Other perks include the ability to upload longer videos and audio clips, in addition to viewing fewer ads on Twitter.
To get brands and companies on board, Musk says a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us” will be available. The new revenue stream also promises to give Twitter a way to reward content creators, he adds.
Twitter Blue currently costs $4.99 per month for features like tweet editing and custom app icons.
Musk is pushing his proposal to help turn Twitter into a profitable company after securing $44 billion to buy it. Last year, Twitter reported an operating loss of $493 million when it makes most of its revenue from ads.
The big question is whether enough people will be willing to pay up for the new Twitter subscription plan. What will stop hackers, fraudsters, and spammers from buying access to the blue checkmark? The Verge says Twitter could launch the new service tier as soon as this month.
To address how Twitter will handle the verified blue checkmark for public officials, Musk said: "There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians."