Elon Musk reportedly charging $20 a month for Twitter ‘blue checkmark’ verification status

Twitter’s new “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk, is strongly contemplating charging users to maintain their blue “verified” checkmarks, Platformer‘s Casey Newton reported Sunday, citing two individuals aware of the matter. Verified users must subscribe to a revamped Twitter Blue subscription service that can cost $19.95 a month, up from $4.99 presently, The Verge added. “Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark.”

Musk has given staff working on the project till Nov. 7 to launch this new paid verification plan or they are going to be fired, The Verge reports. Musk tweeted to 1 person Sunday that “the whole verification process is being revamped right now,” and responded to a Twitter poll that discovered (as of early Monday) almost 80% of respondents saying they’d pay nothing for verification by tweeting, “Interesting.”

Blue Checkmark Twitter didn’t seem like eager to fork over $20 a month for the privilege of being verified on Musk’s website. Prominent tech journalist Kara Swisher stated she’s a “hard no,” explaining that she pays less for a bunch of services — Netflix. Amazon Prime, Apple Music — that give her something she values without having to “endure stupidly obvious and painfully wit-free jokes” from a CEO who tweets “homophobic sh-tty news for laffs” and acts like a “buffoon.”

“In fact, I would not pay a dime for verification,” Swisher adds. “In fact, social media should pay its creators and treat them with respect, instead of unleashing knuckleheads on them.” Semafor‘s Benjy Sarlin predicted that the only two categories for a $20-a-month subscription could be “‘I have an employer who requires/expenses it’ or ‘I am way too into Twitter in an off-putting way and want to advertise that fact.'”

Verification is not simply an ego trip, Quartz‘s Scott Nover notes. “1.) It’s a way to show users which account is the real Justin Bieber or Anderson Cooper or, hell, Guy Fieri and 2.) it’s a way for Twitter to signal what/who is a reputable news source/journalist.” And added to Musk’s other actions as Chief Twit, he does not give the endeavor much likelihood of success.