Twitter's new owner Elon Musk, too, has hinted that the blue tick will come for a price following reports that the microblogging site may charge verified users to keep their much-coveted checkmark.
The plan seems to have upset a lot of people, including writer Stephen King, who tweeted his displeasure and responding to him, Twitter's billionaire maverick owner said the firm intended to charge for the tick.
King tweeted on October 31 that he would leave Twitter if the plan was implemented and said the platform should pay him instead.
Musk responded to King's tweet, saying that the company couldn't rely solely on advertisements and asked if he would be prepared to pay $8 for the service.
Also read: Elon Musk tests waters on paid verification for Twitter accounts
King joined comedian Kathy Burke, who tweeted: “Musk can f*** off with his idea of charging blue-tickers. I give my all to this hell site for FREE. Cheeky b**** should be paying ME. Don’t need the poxy thing anyway.”
The Twitter CEO stated that this is the only approach to defeat bots and that he will explain the rationale in detail before implementing the policy.
The Verge reported last week that Musk, who recently completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, intends to charge verified users $20 per month to keep their blue checkmark.
Without commenting on the report, Musk tweeted on 30 October: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now."
Twitter Blue, the platform's first subscription service, was introduced in June of last year and provides "exclusive access to premium features," including the ability to edit tweets, for a monthly fee.
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