Twitter's blue tick on sale for USD 8 per month, says new boss Elon Musk; faces backlash

Twitters new owner billionaire Elon Musk has announced that the verification blue tick in front of a users name that authenticates the account will be charged eight dollars per month prompting outrage and disbelief among some longtime usersMusk the worlds richest person acquired Twitter in a whopping USD 44 billion deal on October 27 He also fired the social media companys four top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya GaddePower to the people Blue for USD 8 per month he tweeted Tuesday adding that the price is adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parityWith that price he said users will also get priority in replies mentions and searches which he said is essential to defeating spamscams as well as the ability to post long video and audio half as many ads and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the social media companyMusk 51 said the monthly payments from users for the blue tick will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creatorsAlso read Elon Musk comments on whether Donald Trump will return to TwitterThere will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure which is already the case for politicians he further saidA blue tick signifies that a particular account is verified because its notable in government news entertainment or another designated categoryTwitter introduced the system in 2009 after it faced a lawsuit accusing it of not doing enough to prevent imposter accountsHowever Musks decision to charge for blue ticks did not go down well with many longtime users including author Stephen King who has nearly seven million followers on the platform20 a month to keep my blue check he tweeted on Monday followed by an expletive They should pay me If that gets instituted Im gone like EnronFollowing up later in a reply King wrote it aint the money its the principle of the thingMusk replied to King with his most explicit acknowledgment yet of the proposal to charge for account verification We need to pay the bills somehow Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers he said How about 8Kasturi Shankar a user with blue tick whose Twitter bio describes her as an actor activist lawyer writer quizzer dancer foodie and travelholic wrote Way to dilute the blue tick verification Real important people will leave and take with them the users you need to justify the platform When businesses and media buy blue ticks they will in turn try to monetise their tweets Twitter will become a bill boardAnother user named David Rothschild asked So the more money you spend the more elevated your speechFaux populism from billionaires who just want to cut taxes amp regulations for the rich while crushing rights of workers to get basic social safety amp bargaining necessary to be healthy productive and have meaningful opportunity is particularly infuriating type of faux populism said the user which has the blue tick handle DavMicRotAnother verified user having handle Rubiu5 asked What happens when a random user pays 8 and changes his Display Name to Elon Musk using your same profile pic and starts tweeting like hes youVerified check marks exist so people know they follow the real person the user pointed outResponding to the barrage of criticisms Musk said Twitter speaks to the inner masochist in all of usTo all complainers please continue complaining but it will cost 8 he tweetedIn a subsequent tweet Musk shared a link to a popular British skit titled ArgumentThe well known sketch by comedy troupe Monty Python sees a character played by Michael Pali becoming enraged after paying for a fiveminute argument with John CleeseTotally stole the idea of charging for insults and arguments from Monty Python tbh Musk wroteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever