Elon Musk, the newly appointed head of Twitter, announced Tuesday that the service will charge $8 per month to verify users' accounts. Musk claimed that this move will abolish the "existing lords & peasants structure" on the platform and bring in fresh money for the company.
The news follows the world's richest man's controversial $44 billion acquisition of sole ownership of the dominant social media company.
"Put the people in charge! He tweeted, "Blue for $8/month," making reference to the platform's well-known blue checkmark that denotes a legitimate, verified account.
In the comments to his first tweet, Musk noted that the new plan's pricing would be changed by nation "proportionate to purchasing power parity" and would also feature "priority" in reacting to and looking for postings, which he described as "important to beat spam/scam."
Additionally, he stated, customers would have access to a "paywall bypass for publishers willing to engage with us," improved video capabilities, less advertisements, and other features.
Musk tweeted, "This will also provide Twitter with a money stream to reward content providers."
In addition to giving users verification rights, the new program would take over Twitter Blue's present features, which include, for example, the ability to modify tweets and are now offered for $5 a month.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO suggested the $8 monthly price in a Twitter response to author Stephen King earlier on Tuesday. King was upset over rumors that the verification service may cost $20 per month.
"We must find a way to pay the bills!" Musk answered.
Twitter can't rely just on sponsors.
The 51-year-old entrepreneur has made significant changes at Twitter, including the recent dismissal of the entire board of directors, including CEO Parag Agrawal, as well as the proposal.
According to The Washington Post, Musk, whose account bio presently says "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator," intends to terminate about 75% of the 7,500 workers at his new company.
Some advertisers, the company's main source of income, have expressed concern over Musk's prior comments criticizing Twitter's content moderation measures as being overly draconian and his frequent posting of boundary-testing memes.
He announced the creation of a content moderation council in an effort to assuage fears that the site will turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."
