Twitter users react to Elon Musk’s plans to charge $20/month for verification 

People aren’t happy with new Twitter owner Elon Musk‘s ‘greedy’ plans to charge users to have their accounts verified with a blue tick. 

The controversial plan, leaked by Twitter employees at the weekend, will force users to pay $20/month to have a blue tick next to their account name. 

Blue ticks will only be available under Twitter Blue, the platform’s paid subscription service that gives access to exclusive features. 

Twitter Blue is currently $4.99 a month, but under Musk’s plans its price would soar to $20 a month – a move branded ‘greedy’ by one user. 

Musk – the world’s richest person with a net worth of more than $210 billion (£180 billion) – completed his purchase of Twitter last week following a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. 

According to reports, Musk told Twitter developers they will all be fired if they don’t meet the November 7 launch deadline to get the changes implemented, even though they were only told about it on October 30.

Twitter is planning to remove blue ticks from profiles after 90 days if users don’t subscribe to Twitter Blue, the reports claim. 

MailOnline has contacted Twitter regarding how the plans affect the millions of users where Twitter Blue hasn’t launched yet, which includes the UK. 

On Sunday, Musk admitted that ‘the whole verification process is being revamped right now’. 

The plans were revealed by The Verge, which cited Twitter’s internal correspondence and ‘people familiar with the matter’. 

But the revelation has caused a storm on Twitter, with many threatening to delete their accounts in protest. 

Twitter user @PhilosophyBIM posted: ‘I really don’t care about the blue checkmark on my profile as “verified” but if I have to pay to use twitter down the road, I’d delete my account all together. Simple as that.’ 

@AusomeCharlie said she ‘might delete Twitter’, adding that she’s ‘horrified about the paid blue tick idea’. 

And @bouncytorch said: ‘today i learned about twitter blue and it made me wanna delete my twitter once again.’ 

Meanwhile, @VirtuaMcPolygon said: ‘Cue the mass exodus.’ 

It’s unclear if the thousands of official accounts for companies, charities, non-profits and public bodies will be affected – and if they’ll have their blue ticks removed if they don’t pay the monthly $20 charge. 

According to Twitter, the blue tick next to an account’s name indicates that an account has been verified and ‘lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic’. 

It’s a helpful visual indicator that lets other users know that an account really is the official home of the user that it’s purporting to represent – and not an imitator. 

But users don’t seem to like the idea of paying $20 for the privilege, with one user calling it an ‘outrageous’ price to pay. 

‘$20/month for twitter blue?? that is an outrageous price for such minor features,’ said @5pecialagentoso. 

Verified user @Psalmology1 said: ‘Is this a joke? $20 for what? I think Twitter should come take back its blue badge, I don’t want [it] again.’ 

Meanwhile, @TLOZ_Triforce17 said: ‘Like hell would I spend $20 on a Twitter Blue subscription to be able to edit tweets and gain a verification badge. This just screams Elon Musk being greedy to make back money for his dumbass decision to buy this platform in the first place. It screams desperate.’

Other users are cancelling their Twitter Blue subscription after learning that it’s going up in price.   

@pressurebygrace said: ‘Canceled my @TwitterBlue account. Can’t see giving the new Twitter owner more $$, especially with all the other crap he’s pulling. Charging to be verified, for example. That’s just greedy.’

And @joshuagale75: ‘Paying more for Twitter Blue than you do for Netflix just to put $240 bucks a year directly into Elon Musk’s pockets.’ 

Blue ticks will ultimately become more scarce on the platform, and an indicator that a user is shelling out a sizeable monthly sum for one.  

@yashalevine also added: ‘Having a blue check will be like a sign that says: “I’m a sucker.”‘ 

@lynnbixenspan: ‘If Twitter starts charging for blue checks, it will become extremely embarrassing to have one.’ 

After news broke last week that Musk had completed the takeover, users started to notice that their follower counts were drastically depleting. 

It’s possible people are losing Twitter followers – described as ‘The Great Purge’ by one user – because users are deactivating their accounts in protest at Musk’s purchase. 

Another possibility is that Musk has already got to work at reducing the number of bots on the platform, said to make up five per cent of all user accounts.

After finally completing the deal last week, Musk started his reign of Twitter in audacious fashion, by immediately firing some of Twitter’s top executives at its San Francisco HQ. 

Within hours of the deal, he fired CEO Parag Agrawal and top counsel Vijaya Gadde – the woman responsible for banning President Trump after the January 6 riots last year – as well as CFO Ned Segal. 

Musk said in May he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Donald Trump, whose account was removed after the attack on the US Capitol. 

Musk had previously accused the fired Twitter execs of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake ‘bot’ accounts on the platform. 

Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, according to people familiar with the matter. 

In the past, it was reported Musk had vowed to fire 75 per cent of Twitter staff, thought to be in an effort to cut costs, although Musk denied this on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. 

Musk signaled the start of his ownership by tweeting ‘the bird is freed’, in reference to the Twitter logo, followed a few hours later by ‘let the good times roll’. 

Musk, who has called himself a ‘free speech absolutist’, wants Twitter to enforce fewer limits on content that can be posted. 

However, he’s also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Other goals include wanting to ‘defeat’ spam bots on Twitter and make the algorithms that determine how content is presented to its users publicly available.

Before closing the deal, Musk walked into Twitter’s headquarters on Wednesday with a big grin and a porcelain sink, subsequently tweeting ‘let that sink in’. 

He also changed his Twitter profile description to ‘Chief Twit’.  

Publicly, Musk has sought to assure advertisers that his past criticism of Twitter’s content moderation rules would not harm its appeal.

‘Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!’ Musk said in an open letter posted on Thursday.

‘The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.  

As news of the deal spread, some Twitter users were quick to flag their willingness to walk away.

‘I will be happy to leave in a heartbeat if Musk, well, acts as we all expect him to, ‘ said user @mustlovedogsxo.

European regulators also reiterated past warnings that, under Musk’s leadership, Twitter must still abide by the region’s Digital Services Act, which levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content.

‘In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,’ EU industry chief Thierry Breton tweeted on Friday morning.

Musk has indicated he sees Twitter as a foundation for creating a ‘super app’ that offers everything from money transfers to shopping and ride-hailing. 

The deal’s road to fruition was full of twists and turns that sowed doubt over whether it would happen at all.

It all began on April 4, when Musk disclosed a 9.2 per cent Twitter stake, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.

The world’s richest person then agreed to join Twitter’s board, only to balk at the last minute and offer to buy the company instead for $54.20 per share.

Twitter accepted the offer later in April, but the following month Musk said the deal is on hold pending a review of bot accounts. 

His lawyers then accused Twitter of not complying with his requests for information on the subject.

The acrimony resulted in Musk telling Twitter on July 8 he was terminating the deal, and four days later, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the acquisition.

Twitter accused Musk of buyer’s remorse, arguing he wanted out of the deal because he thought he overpaid. 

On October 4, Musk performed another U-turn, offering to complete the deal as promised. He managed to do that, just one day ahead of a deadline to avoid going to trial.