Musk: Twitter Is Ditching 'Lords & Peasants' System

He says $8 per month will buy verification, priority in searches
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 1, 2022 8:25 PM CDT
Musk Confirms $8 Per Month Twitter Plan
Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st annual Halloween party at Sake No Hana at Moxy Lower East Side on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Elon Musk appears to have settled on $8 per month as the price of verification on Twitter. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Musk set out a plan for a new version of verification through the Twitter Blue subscription service, CNBC reports. He slammed the "current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark," adding: "Power to the people! Blue for $8/month." Hours earlier, Musk floated the $8 figure in response to a tweet from Stephen King, who said he would be "gone like Enron" if reports Twitter was planning to charge $20 a month for verification of high-profile users were true. "We need to pay the bills somehow!" Musk told the horror writer. "Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers."

Musk said the price would be "adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity." Other features for Blue subscribers, he said, would include half as many ads, the ability to post long video and audio and "priority in replies, mentions, and search." He said it would also include a "paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us." The changes, Musk said, would "give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators." He said for public figures verified on Twitter, there would be a "secondary tag below the name ... which is already the case for politicians." It's not clear whether any of Musk's proposed changes will actually be implemented, CNBC notes.

The current Blue subscription costs $4.99 a month, with no connection to verification, the Verge reports. Perks for subscribers included the ability to edit tweets and read ad-free articles, though Twitter discontinued the ad-free news on Monday, saying it plans to focus its resources on "adding additional value for our members." Advertising currently provides around 90% of Twitter's revenue, but some advertisers worried about Musk's ownership are edging away from the platform. Sources tell the New York Times that advertising giant IPG advised clients Monday to pause spending on Twitter because of concerns about content moderation. (More Twitter stories.)

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