Elon Musk’s revamp of Twitter subscription services are said to officially launch week, reports unnamed sources speaking to Bloomberg.
First teased as a $20 monthly service for verification, it was revealed yesterday an increase to Twitter Blue at $8 per month would allow anyone to get verification, plus other new features. Part of the new charge is to combat bots and spam, which Musk said would defeat them.
Now, Bloomberg reports on Wednesday afternoon the $8 monthly subscription for verification could start as early as next week, citing unnamed sources. The publication also reports the edit button may also expand to all Twitter users for free, by possibly this week.
What existing verified Twitter users? Sources say they will have a “multi-month” grace period before they will need to subscribe or lose their coveted blue checkmark.
Another source says government accounts will be allowed to stay verified by Twitter, plus those in regions where the social network can’t collect payments.
According to the Platformer, Twitter is also discussing an annual $99 USD plan for its verification service part of Twitter Blue. The publication also reports the edit button, a current feature of Twitter Blue, may be given to all Twitter users.
Other features that are said to come with this upgraded Twitter Blue service will include a verification checkmark:
One of the key reasons for paid verification is to combat bots and spam, according to Musk.
Paying $8 monthly will “destroy” bots and spam on Twitter. “If a paid Blue account engages in spam/scam, that account will be suspended,” said Musk. “Essentially, this raises the cost of crime on Twitter by several orders of magnitude,” he said.
Other sweeping changes coming to Twitter include the possibility of creators being able to monetize videos shared on the site.
Musk has deployed over 50 Tesla engineers to help roll out new changes at Twitter, at the known break-neck speeds the automaker is known for.
