Elon Musk has been in charge of Twitter for less than a week and the changes are already coming.
On Tuesday morning, the Tesla CEO announced he’ll start charging verified users.
“Twitter’s current lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls–t,” Musk tweeted. “Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.”
Musk explained that the price will fluctuate depending on the country.
“Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity,” he tweeted.
That blue checkmark will also come with some perks.
SpaceX’s chief engineer said the payment will also allow users to have priority in replies, mentions, and search, which he says is “essential to defeat spam/scam.”
Verified users will also be allowed to post longer videos and audio to the platform and will also get half the ads free users will get.
Musk also said the payment will allow for a “paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us.”
So far Musk hasn’t revealed when this plan will begin nor has he revealed how he plans to keep users safe by having this payment in place.
This announcement comes after The Verge reported Twitter’s new owner wanted to revamp Twitter Blue, the company’s optional $4.99 monthly subscription, that gives users access to premium features like ad-free articles, to employees.
According to internal documents reviewed by The Verge, Musk wanted to change Twitter Blue into a more expensive subscription that would verify users. The upgraded plan would include a price increase, charging users $19.99 monthly instead of $4.99.
Current verified users would have 90 days to enroll in the program or risk losing their verification status.
Employees working on the project have until Nov. 7 to complete it, or they will be fired, The Verge reported.
It’s unclear if Musk has axed the $19.99 pricetag completely to go forth with the $8 a-month payment he tweeted about on Tuesday.
Months before taking over Twitter, Musk made it clear that he wanted to revamp the verification process and make half of the company’s revenue come from monthly subscriptions.
