Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday announced that getting a blue tick on the microblogging site will cost around $8 (Rs 660) a month. He confirmed that the price has been adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.
In a series of tweets, Musk confirmed that Twitter users will also get priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam. They will also be able to post long video and audio and will see half as many ads.
It should be noted that Musk had been testing the waters on asking users to pay for verification. A venture capitalist working with Musk tweeted a poll asking how much users would be willing to pay for the blue check mark that Twitter has historically used to verify higher-profile accounts so other users know it's really them.
Musk, whose account is verified, replied, "Interesting".
For long, 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.
"The whole verification process is being revamped right now," Musk had tweeted this Sunday in response to a user who asked for help getting verified.