Twitter, a major micro-blogging platform, is soon going to start charging users money who have a blue tick or verified profile on a monthly basis. The charge would be to keep the profiles verified. This has never been done before. Elon Musk recently took over Twitter, and it has stirred up a lot of controversy in the tech world. For now, while Twitter hasn't said anything officially about this, a report from The Verge suggests that Twitter is going to charge customers around $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription.
According to the report, Musk has asked the employees to meet his deadline for introducing paid verification on Twitter or pack up and leave. The move is to revamp Twitter verification. Musk wants Twitter to be able to monetise the Twitter Blue subscription in a better manner. The company currently charges $4.99 every month from the users who purchase the Twitter Blue subscription.
But the new Twitter Blue subscription would cost around $19.99 per month. In addition, a Twitter Blue subscription would be necessary for users to keep their profiles verified. The report mentioned that under the current subscription, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe to Twitter Blue or risk losing their blue tick or verified status on the platform.
It confuses me why Twitter would ask users to pay for verification. It diminishes the whole free to all image of the platform. There could be verified profiles on the platform who might not be able to afford the subscription, but yet their verified status is important for society and the platform, given the nature of the information they share. Further, there's also the fact that the Twitter Blue subscription isn't available everywhere. Things will become more clear once Twitter officially announces this. Right now, the reports online are just source based.