Elon Musk, the new owner of microblogging platform Twitter, has announced an $8 monthly fee for verified Twitter accounts. Musk announced Tuesday night that verified accounts would also be entitled to priority in replies, mentions, search, the ability to post long audio and video, as well as half the ads. Musk added that users will be able to bypass paywalls if they are “publishers willing and able to work with us”.
At the moment, verified Twitter users do not have to pay for badges.
Musk responded earlier to reports that a $20 fee was being proposed for Twitter Blue verification badge. Musk responded to Stephen King’s tweet expressing dismay at the internet rumours. He said that the company “needs to pay its bills”.
Twitter has an existing subscription service, called “Twitter Blue”, which was launched last June. It costs $4.99 per monthly and provides access to features like the ability to edit tweets and change Twitter’s design and display, as well as the icon for the app.
After a long legal battle with Twitter, Musk took control of Twitter on Friday. He fired Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s Chief Executive, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, the company’s chief legal affairs and policy officer, immediately after taking control.
According to Reuters, Musk also revealed Monday that he was now the sole director of Twitter following the merger. He stated in the filing that “the following persons, who were Twitter directors prior to the effective date of the merger are no longer directors at Twitter: Bret Taylor and Parag Agrawal; Omid Kordestani; David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox (Patrick Pichette), Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette. Egon Durban, Fei–Fei Li, Mimi Alemayehou.”
