Twitter Blue to Cost $8 per Month; Will Include Verified Badge, Fewer Ads, Elon Musk Says

Elon Musk is looking to boost subscriptions and reduce Twitter's reliance on advertisements.

By Reuters | Updated: 2 November 2022 09:42 IST

Twitter Blue to Cost $8 per Month; Will Include Verified Badge, Fewer Ads, Elon Musk Says

Photo Credit: Twitter

Twitter Blue was launched in 2021 and is available in a handful of countries

Highlights

Twitter Blue users will gain a 'verified' badge on their profiles
The service will also display half as many ads for Twitter Blue users
Twitter Blue subscribers will gain priority in replies and search

Twitter will charge $8 (roughly Rs. 660) a month for its Blue service, which includes its sought-after "verified" badge, new boss Elon Musk said on Tuesday as he seeks to boost subscriptions and make the social media network less reliant on ads. A blue check mark next to a person's user name on the social media platform means Twitter has confirmed that the account belongs to the person or company claiming it. Twitter is currently free for most users.

"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," Musk said in a tweet, adding that the price will be adjusted by "country proportionate to purchasing power parity."

Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Billionaire Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,63,700 crore) last week.

Since the takeover, he has moved quickly to put his stamp on the company, firing its previous chief and other top officials.

Twitter's advertising chief, Sarah Personette, tweeted on Tuesday that she had resigned her post last week, adding further uncertainty for advertisers.

Musk on Tuesday said subscribers with blue check marks would get priority in replies, mentions and search and would be able to post longer videos and audios. They would see half as many ads.

He also offered subscribers a pay wall bypass from "publishers willing to work with us."

Musk's comments follow media reports that he was looking at the process of profile verification and how the blue check marks were given. Twitter used to give these to noteworthy profiles based on its own criteria.

More than 80 percent of Twitter users who took part in a recent poll said they would not pay for the checkmark. Some 10 percent said they were willing to pay $5 (roughly Rs. 410) a month.

Twitter already has a subscription service called Twitter Blue, which was launched in June last year and offers access to features such as an option to edit tweets.

Amid speculation that Twitter may soon start charging verified users a monthly fee of $20 (roughly Rs. 1,700) for blue ticks, bestselling author Stephen King tweeted: "If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron."

Separately, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Twitter to B- on "significant" debt increase following the acquisition.

What are the best smartphones you can buy in India under Rs. 30,000? There are a handful of options that we've discussed on this week's episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.