Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Twitter Users Balk At Paying $8 A Month For Musk's Blue Check

Twitter Users Balk At Paying $8 A Month For Musk's Blue Check

Opinions among Twitter users run the gamut on the value of the check mark, and whether it's worth the $8 a month.

Twitter Inc.'s new owner, Elon Musk, is purging the social network's free legacy labels as of April 1 and replacing them with a new designation that he says will make the platform more egalitarian and generate much-needed revenue. But legions of users are balking at forking over the $8 a month fee, and some say the pay-to-play system, dubbed Twitter Blue, will make it easier for pranksters, hoaxers or criminals to pose as someone they're not - potentially facilitating use of the site to spread misinformation and sow discord.

Musk bought Twitter in late October, promising to make it a haven for free speech and battle the bots he said were degrading the social network's user experience. One of his original promises was that people who previously had been "verified" by the system, for free - a badge of prominence that told others you were real and possibly also famous - would lose their status. Since Musk's takeover, an increase in offensive speech and fumbles around verification and content moderation have led hundreds of advertisers to pull spending from the platform, causing ad sales to decline by 50%. Paid verification as part of Twitter Blue is an attempt to make up for that lost revenue.

Opinions among Twitter users run the gamut on the value of the check mark, and whether it's worth the $8 a month - discounted to $84 if you buy a whole year, but $11 per month if you buy it through the Apple or Google app store. Some users say they'll refuse to subscribe to Twitter Blue because they don't want to support Musk, the world's second-richest person, or because they object to paying for the reach that they used to be able to earn on merit. Others are willing to pony up for the credibility and exposure that comes with verification.



Businesses likewise will have to choose whether to pay thousands of dollars for their accounts' verification - under the new system, organizations will pay $1,000 per month for verification, with some exceptions, plus $50 for each employee that also gets a check - or face increased risk of imitation on the platform. The potential danger of declining to verify is that fake accounts with paid check marks could pose as any business, including financial firms or media organizations, and then perpetuate scams or spread misinformation. In November, when Musk opened up verification to paying users, Twitter accounts with check marks began impersonating companies such as Eli Lilly & Co., PepsiCo Inc., Nintendo Co. - and even Musk himself.

By charging for access to visibility and reach, the essential features of a social network, Twitter risks alienating users who have always had those features for free, some analysts and observers say, and the uptake isn't likely to be enough to stanch the loss of revenue from advertising. So far, fewer than 300,000 people have signed up, according to the Information.

"It's unlikely that most people who have legacy blue check marks will care enough to start paying for them," said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg. "Revenues from Twitter Blue won't make up for the ad revenue losses Twitter has incurred since Musk took over," she said.


The selling of check marks also has the potential to minimize the voices of users who don't subscribe. Twitter was once viewed as a public forum where anyone could have their voice heard, and Musk has championed the platform as a bulwark against censorship. But if Twitter is a public space, "Why would you have a price for admission?" said Rick Smith, host of political podcast The Rick Smith Show. "Why would you say, well, if you pay me the eight bucks we're going to promote what you have to say over everyone else?"

Smith, who has more than 280,000 followers, was verified under the legacy process, but said he won't pay for Twitter Blue to keep his check mark. "There's no way you're going to get me to pay Elon a dime," he said. His podcast team is already exploring upstart alternatives such as Post and Mastodon in case users flee Twitter, he said. "That blue check used to mean something," said Smith. "Now it's just an emoji on your name."

The implications for some accounts, such as financial institutions, could be severe. The crypto industry is already a prime target for fraud because the industry is so new. If a verified account could impersonate a cryptocurrency brokerage, for example, it could shift entire markets by tweeting out false information. And despite Musk's claim that the system is aimed at preventing the prevalence of AI bots, he hasn't explained how that would work, because people who set up bot accounts may be willing to pay for them to look legitimate. Paradoxically, Musk has also said verified bot accounts are OK, "if they follow the terms of service and don't impersonate a human."

The new verification process does benefit users who previously had trouble gaining traction on the platform.

One example is Josh Larky, director of fantasy and gambling at the 33rd Team, who has more than 30,000 Twitter followers. Even though Larky is an employee of a verified media organization, he was never verified under the legacy system. "The old process didn't work for me," he said. When the opportunity to get verified with Twitter Blue came along, he felt it would be foolish not to take advantage of the instant credibility. "People naturally gravitate towards social media accounts with blue check marks," he said.

Kaleb Ivy, who subscribed to Twitter Blue when it first rolled out, immediately noticed an uptick in engagement on his tweets. When he briefly unsubscribed from the service a few weeks later, "It almost seemed like my posts were being buried intentionally. The engagement was nonexistent," he said. Ivy, a casual Twitter user who was stuck at 700 followers before subscribing to Blue, also saw his followers go up, and now has more than 1,000.

LaDarius Brown, a writer at Sportskeeda who subscribed to Twitter Blue a few months ago, saw his followers increase drastically since purchasing the service. Brown, who now has more than 8,000 followers, went from gaining an average of 50 new followers a month to more than 250 per month. "It took me aback," he said.

Twitter Blue existed before Musk took over but offered more limited features, such as the ability to edit tweets or change the design of the app icon. Now a Blue subscription includes access to text-message-based authentication, tweets up to 4,000 characters and half as many ads. In order to be verified, in addition to buying Twitter Blue, users need an active account with a verified phone number, display name and profile photo.

Still, Twitter's legacy verification process, even though it was free, was much more robust. To receive a check mark, users would fill out an application with their name and proof of identification, and would answer a few questions about why they were notable. Once a person was verified, they would see a blue badge and check appear next to their name, in what became a standard across social media platforms.


"In theory, there's an approval process for the Twitter Blue verification," said Jane Manchun Wong, a technology blogger and engineer who said she was the first paying Blue customer when the service was introduced in 2021. "In practice, I wonder how that will play out."

When Evan Harris, a Blue subscriber since March 24, applied for verification, the process was surprisingly easy. "I found it interesting that I wasn't asked any questions or asked to fill out a questionnaire," he said. Brown, the Sportskeeda writer, said he was approved for his blue check mark within 48 hours.

"I think the new process has been beneficial for some accounts that maybe were not notable in the everyday public eye, but very popular in some sub-genres like gaming, fantasy, football, blogging," Harris said.

News organizations such as the New York Times, CNN and the Los Angeles Times have said that they generally don't plan to pony up for Twitter verification or reimburse employees who pay to get the check, raising concerns about impersonation and misinformation under fake accounts. In November, when the new feature was announced, Bloomberg News said that it wouldn't reimburse staff for Twitter Blue accounts. Max Collins, of the band Eve 6 and a BuzzFeed columnist, said he even started blocking accounts with paid blue check marks.


Many celebrity Twitter users were also outspoken on their feelings about the cost of verification. "Welp guess my blue check will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain't paying the 5," basketball legend LeBron James, whose verified handle @KingJames has 58.2 million followers, tweeted on Friday. Actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame queried Musk directly via tweet: "Hey @elonmusk what's this about blue checks going away unless we pay Twitter?" he posted on March 25. "You're telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free?"

Musk's response was that there shouldn't be a different standard for celebrities. Shatner retorted that he would wait until a "false blue check" incident prompted Musk to rethink the system: "Until then I'll go #checkless," he wrote.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Budapest Central European Fashion Week Kicks Off
U.S. Celebrates Labor Day
Hungarian National Team Captain Scores Epic Goal
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
×