Twitter's verification method has always been a difficult and contentious issue. To speed the application process, the firm has repeatedly interrupted and resumed it. In the Elon Musk age, the social media business may be aiming to flip the script on verification: pay $20 per month and you will receive a verified badge.
According to The Verge, the firm is planning to launch a new and more costly version of Twitter Blue, the platform's subscription plan, for $19.99 a month and would provide users with a verified badge. Twitter Blue now costs $4.99 per month in the United States and is accessible in other countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.
According to the source, Twitter is hurrying to offer this new membership plan on November 7. What's more startling is that the social network intends to withdraw current holders' verification badges if they don't pay for Twitter Blue within 90 days. Given that certified users may be found all over the world, enforcing this requirement will be difficult until the subscription service is made available internationally.
According to the New York Times, Musk delivered a pitch PowerPoint to Twitter investors in May, with ambitions ranging from higher subscriber income to 69 million Twitter Blue users by 2025. These early improvements to Twitter's premium plan might be the first step toward that goal.
Musk, Twitter's "Chief Twit," did not reveal many specifics about the new initiative, but he did respond to a chat between spaceflight photographer John Kraus and a16z partner Sriram Krishnan, saying that the verification procedure is being revised.
$20 seems like a lot of money to spend for a validated credential, and many people, like Kara Swisher, are unwilling to pay that much. According to a poll conducted by investor Jason Calacanis, to which Musk responded "interesting," the majority of people oppose paying any fee for verification.
The program's fundamental goal was to identify authentic profiles of political leaders, celebrities, researchers, and journalists so that people do not fall for material uploaded by fraudulent accounts. If the new verification method is implemented, it might result in a free-for-all in which any paid user can pretend to be a person of significance for a short time and spread falsehoods.
But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves. In Elonverse, seven days is a long time, and he may come up with a different verification method entirely.