The Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Elon Musk, has indicated that a verified account on the bird app in the future could cost $8 a month, despite facing a user backlash over proposals to charge for the feature.
The new owner of Twitter described the current system for allocating blue check marks – which verify a user as a trustworthy source – as “bullshit” in a Twitter post to his more than 110 million followers on Tuesday.
“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,” he wrote, suggesting that a tick could be given to accounts that subscribe to the platform’s premium service, Blue, for $8 a month.
Musk added that the price could fluctuate according to country. Twitter’s Blue service operates in a handful of countries: the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It costs $4.99 a month in the US and in its current guise the service offers a narrower suite of perks such as being able to undo tweets.
In the Twitter thread, Musk said subscribers to the new Blue service would also get priority in replies, mentions and search, which he said was “essential to defeat” spam accounts.
Users will also see half as many adverts and will be able to post long video and audio clips. No timing for the changes was announced.
The changes would affect about 400,000 blue tick accounts on Twitter. Advertising, which would be reduced for Blue subscribers under the plans, accounts for 90% of Twitter’s $5bn in annual revenue.