Tesla executive Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of social media platform Twitter just a few days ago and it seems like he is eager on recouping his investment as soon as possible. Musk, who now appoints himself as "Chief Twit", has already fired Twitter's CEO, CFO, and legal policy chief, and it appears that other major changes are underway too. A report claims that the verification badge (checkmark next to your profile name) on Twitter will soon become a paid feature with a monthly cost.
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Citing internal correspondence, The Verge has reported that Musk has ordered Twitter's development team to revamp Twitter Blue in such a way that verified users have to sign up to it for a $19.99/month (currently $4.99/month) fee in order to retain their verified badge. Employees on this project have been tasked with implementing this major change by November 7, or lose their jobs.
Currently, Twitter Blue is an optional subscription that offers users some additional functionalities for $4.99/month. Meanwhile, the verification badge is something that resides outside of this subscription and is handed out after curation by Twitter itself. You can apply for it manually too but whether it gets awarded to you or not is at the discretion of the company.
However, under the new order, the verification badge will be bundled with the Twitter Blue subscription, which will cost $19.99/month. Current badge holders will have up to 90 days to start paying the new fee before they lose their badge.
All in all, it's a drastic change that will likely have currently verified users wondering how important the badge is to them. On the other side of the fence, the requirement to implement this change within roughly seven days under the threat of losing your job is unlikely to create a healthy work environment. It remains to be seen if this is a one-off thing or if Musk plans to continue with this aggressive strategy moving forward too.
Source: The Verge
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