Finally, after a wave of criticism and support, Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter is all set to charge $8 for a blue tick on Twitter. On Saturday, Twitter updated the app in the App Store to charge extra for blue tick verification.
The change came after Elon Musk took over Twitter at $44 million. After entering he removed the previous CEO, Parag Agrawal to become the new CEO of the company.
The new Twitter under Elon Musk will now start charging $8 for those who wish for a blue tick beside their names, just like any celebrity or big personalities.
Twitter said those who “sign up now” for $7.99 a month can acquire the blue checkmark next to their user names, “just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”
Several experiments will be laid out before making it valid globally. “As soon as we confirm it’s working well in the initial set of countries and we have the translation work done, it will roll out worldwide,” Musk said in a tweet on Saturday.
Elon promised that the new blue tick will provide many essential features to its users such as attachment of long texts, screenshots, etc.
“Twitter will soon add ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending absurdity of notepad screenshots. Followed by creator monetization for all forms of content,” Musk added in a tweet.
Before Elon’s move, a blue tick denoted that the person’s user name was verified by Twitter and that the account belonged to the person or company claiming it. It was not presently clear how or if Twitter intended to verify the identity of the user beyond charging a fee.
Twitter’s update declared the new service with verification will be functional in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
The new Twitter will hopefully roll out by the next month. This was confirmed by a tweet, a reply from Elon Musk to a question from a follower which stated, “hopefully less than a month.”
After the update of blue tick was made available to users, products executive Esther Crawford said that this new feature is not live yet.
“The new Blue isn’t live yet — the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time,” she said in a tweet.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk took over Twitter after a six-month battle. He bought Twitter at a $44 million deal. Soon after acquiring, he removed top executives of the company including the CEO, Parag Agrawal. Twitter has been shaking and updating with new features, making people step down from the platform including brands.