Musk outlines plans for Twitter verification charge, slams current system as ‘bulls---'
Musk closed the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Thursday evening, closing a months-long saga
Twitter owner Elon Musk's arrival creates change, chaos on the internet
The Heritage Foundation's Jake Denton breaks down some of the biggest changes that Elon Musk is implementing at Twitter on 'The Evening Edit.'
Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, on Tuesday outlined his plan for blue checkmark verification following pushback over reports that the social media giant would charge a fee of $20 a month.
In an irreverent tweet, Musk railed against Twitter’s current system for verification.
"Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls---," Musk wrote, before suggesting $8 a month for verification.
Elaborating on the proposal, Musk suggested the price could be adjusted by country proportionate to "purchasing power parity."
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Under this proposed system, Musk said, users will get priority in replies, mentions, and search (essential for weeding out bot accounts and scams), the ability to post longform video and audio, and half the number of ads. Publishers willing to work with Twitter would also get a paywall bypass, he said.
The monthly verification fee, Musk said, would give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators.
The proposal comes during Musk’s first week as the new owner of Twitter, having fired the company’s board of directors last week and making himself the board’s sole member.
FILE: Tesla CEO Elon Musk smiles as he addresses guests at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway on August 29, 2022. (Carina Johansen / NTB / AFP/ Getty Images / Getty Images)
Over the weekend, Musk said Twitter’s verification system would be "revamped," but it remained unclear what that would eventually look like for users.
In a Monday Twitter poll, longtime Musk associate Jason Calacanis, a tech investor, asked users how much they would pay to get a blue check.
The options were $5, $10 or $15 a month, in addition to not paying at all.
More than 81% of respondents said they would not pay.
"Interesting," Musk said.
Twitter Blue is currently $4.99 a month.
Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and journalists, as an elite status symbol.
But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.
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Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April but it wasn't until last Thursday evening that he finally closed the deal, after his attempts to back out of it led to a protracted legal fight with the company. Musk's lawyers are now asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the case, according to a court filing made public Monday. The two sides were supposed to go to trial in November if they didn't close the deal by the end of last week.
FOX Business’ Julia Musto and The Associated Press contributed to this report.