Stephen King says ‘f*** that’ to Twitter verification fee. Elon Musk responds

Stephen King and Elon Musk locked horns over a proposed Twitter verification badge fee.

Elon Musk defended his plan to charge a fee for a Twitter verification badge after Stephen King lambasted the idea – but the Twitter owner did agree to slash the price for a coveted blue tick down to $8 from the previously-proposed $20 per month.

The conversation between the tech billionaire and the celebrated author has gone viral, with detractors and supporters on both sides.

After reports emerged suggesting that Twitter would begin charging users a monthly subscription fee for keeping their ‘blue tick’ – seen as a mark of credibility – author Stephen King, 75, denounced the plan in no uncertain terms.

“$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me,” he tweeted Monday, adding that he would quit the platform if Musk goes ahead with the verification fee. “If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron,” wrote King.

Elon Musk responded by defending the fee, arguing that it is necessary to keep the company profitable and the only way to “defeat bots and trolls”. He did make an attempt at concession – asking if $8 a month sounded better than $20.

“We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?” the Tesla chief tweeted in response to King.

We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

The Twitter owner faced a fair amount of trolling for what many saw as “bargaining”. Some jokingly compared the exchange to an interaction between a shopkeeper and customer at Sarojini Nagar Market – Delhi’s famous street shopping hub.

Sarojini market bhaiya doesn’t go less than 50 percent in one shot. pic.twitter.com/rVwUHnk6Ga

— wakil sahiba (@lawerredup) November 1, 2022

Elon bringing Sarojini game to this party https://t.co/XTM4Wov1sW

— Narayani Basu (@narayani_basu) November 1, 2022

Bhaia Sarojini mein $2 mein mil jaata hai...dhang se lagao. https://t.co/fqiVCrHlbn

— Kabir Taneja (@KabirTaneja) November 1, 2022

On the other hand, Stephen King also faced trolling for his tweet.

These blue check celebs that threatened to leave are still here. The way you stick it to Musk is by deleting your account. But they won't. All talk.

— Steph Monty (@Steph_Monty24) October 31, 2022

It's always the really wealthy ones that are the cheapest

— Ginny Mobley (@MobleyGinny) October 31, 2022

To accusations that he was being ‘cheap’ by refusing to pay, King clarified “It ain't the money, it's the principle of the thing.”