Elon Musk, the new owner is sticking to his guns that users pay an $8 fee to have a blue tick that verifies their account.
This is according to Musk in tweets, rather than an official stance by the company. But insiders reveal that developers have been told to implement the update by 7 November.
Musk initially proposed a $20 fee for user name verification, but yesterday tweeted “Power to the people! Blue for $8/monthâ.
The move has met with mixed reactions: some praise it as a way to weed out fake accounts; others think it will actually increase the spread of disinformation since it will be possible to buy the blue tick that currently helps to verify true sources.
A comment from author Stephen King, that Twitter “should pay me”, was met with this riposte from Musk: “We need to pay the bills somehow!”
Musk took over Twitter on 27 October in a $44-billion deal that was the subject of controversy as he tried to back out of initial offer.