Elon Musk confirms $8/month fee in exchange for keeping Twitter Verified badge

Confirming speculation that surfaced immediately after Twitter’s acquisition. Elon Musk confirms the rules for granting the “verified user” badge have been changed, so that only Twitter Blue subscribers will still be able to enjoy this “privilege”.

In addition, the cost of the Twitter Blue subscription increases from $5 to $8/month, with Musk hinting that the rate could vary from region to region, commensurate with the purchasing power of users in that country. Thus, the tariff mentioned is expressly confirmed for US users only.

Also found on other platforms, such as Instagram, the “verified user” badge added to the right of the profile picture would serve the purpose of communicating essential information to followers. Namely that this is the official account of the celebrity/personality they are following and not one of the countless clones. In other words, the benefits are both for the celebrity who is entitled to use that identity and for the users of that social media platform, who avoid falling into the trap of various scammers and opportunists using the celebrity’s fame for their own gain.

According to CEO Elon Musk, making the Verified badge a privilege available for a fee is justified by the need to make the microblogging platform more profitable.

Sweetening the deal, those who opt for a Twitter Blue subscription with the Twitter Verified option will also receive other perks, such as priority display of replies left to tweet-urils, mentions, and account discovery on searches initiated by other users. According to the same Elon Musk, priority display on searches is particularly useful for “defeating” spam and fake accounts on the platform, ensuring that verified users come to the front every time.

Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to post longer video and audio clips, and for users who truly have star status, a “secondary tag” will also be able to be applied below the displayed name.

Also included in the perks is “halving the ads shown”. But it’s not clear what categories of ads this is, or whether there will be a “premium” subscription that gets rid of all ads for a higher fee.