Elon Musk stays firm on his decision to charge users for the blue check

When Elon Must finalized his purchase of Twitter on October 27, people had a feeling that changes were coming. This sentiment has proven to be an understatement. Musk fired top Twitter executives the same day, including CEO Parag Agrawal. On October 30, The Verge reported that verification could soon become a paid service, and outrage ensued.

Elon Musk initially proposed that the $4.99 Twitter Blue premium service be revamped. The changes would include all subscribers receiving the blue verification badge and the price increasing to $20 a month. Those who already have verified accounts would need to subscribe to Twitter Blue within 90 days to maintain their status.

However, this did not sit well with users. On October 31, Stephen King’s thoughts on the idea went viral. The legendary author, who has 6.9 million followers on the platform, tweeted, “$20 a month to keep my blue check?” F$%& that, they should pay me.”

Musk directly responded to King’s tweet, saying Twitter needed “to pay the bills somehow.” He countered with a lower subscription fee of $8 per month. This number apparently struck a chord with the new owner.

On November 1, Elon Musk announced that the blue check would be monetized for $8 per month per user. This will be part of the overhauled Twitter Blue service, along with fewer ads and increased priority in searches.

It is no surprise that those who boast the coveted blue badge are irate over being charged to keep it. If people could simply pay $8 a month to get verified, this could open a Pandora’s Box of fraudulent activity.

When a user tweeted to Musk that $8 could allow someone to convincingly duplicate Musk’s own profile, the billionaire responded, “That already happens very frequently.” As the current verification system is designed to prevent such activity, that statement raises a lot of questions.

As for the uproar to pay in order to keep the blue checkmark, Musk’s only comment was, “To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8.”