SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX) – The new Twitter owner Elon Musk will charge for user verification. The coveted white tick on a blue verification badge will cost eight dollars a month in the United States, as the tech billionaire announced on Wednesday night on Twitter.
Up until now, Twitter has been giving away the tick symbols that guarantee the authenticity of a Twitter profile for free. Above all, the accounts of celebrities, companies, and users with many followers, such as politicians or journalists, are marked with it. In the past, however, there had always been controversial discussions about verification, since the award criteria were not transparent enough for many users. Musk explained that Twitter is currently using a “system of princes and pawns” to decide who has a tick or not. “That is nonsense.”
Musk wants to integrate the verification hook and other benefits into the existing “Twitter Blue” subscription, which so far includes bookmarks, a special reading mode and the ability to correct a tweet that has already been sent. So far, however, it is only available in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and costs just under five dollars. According to media reports, prices of up to $20 a month have now been discussed for the extended subscription.
Musk defended his plans on Wednesday. “To all those who complain, please keep complaining, but it’s eight dollars.” Critics were not only bothered by the price of the verification. They fear that the very purpose of the verification tick, which is to guarantee the authenticity of an account, is being compromised.
During the Twitter takeover, Musk announced, among other things, that he would eliminate fake accounts and spam on the platform. He wrote on Wednesday: “Our goal is to make Twitter the most correct source of information in the world, regardless of political beliefs.” At the weekend he himself shared a link to a completely unfounded conspiracy theory about the attack on US politician husband Paul Pelosi on Twitter – and later deleted it without comment.
Musk wants to lure paying customers with additional benefits in the future. In the future, tweets from subscription accounts will be given preferential treatment. Subscribers should also only see half of the usual advertisements. They should also be able to publish longer videos and audio content on the platform. At the same time, Musk invited publishers to make content behind a paywall available to Twitter Blue subscribers.
After taking over Twitter, Musk is under pressure to make the approximately $44 billion purchase commercially successful. In addition to his own fortune, he took out bank loans and brought other investors on board. Musk took on around $13 billion in debt for the deal, which ultimately weighed on Twitter. According to media reports, servicing the liabilities together with Twitter’s previous debts costs around one billion dollars a year. That would be more than Twitter is currently generating in free money for it./chd/DP/nas
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