Twitter will reportedly begin charging users $19.99 per month to be verified on the social media platform in what is expected to be a new package offered by the company.
This change is just one of many planned by the company’s new owner, Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in a $44 billion deal less than a week ago.
Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! pic.twitter.com/D68z4K2wq7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2022
The eccentric tech billionaire has already begun shaking things up at Twitter, firing three top executives — leftist CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety — and the company’s general counsel, Sean Edgett, who had to be escorted out of the building.
Now, Musk is making changes to the social media platform, likely trying to make it more profitable.
According to a report from The Verge, the “directive is to change Twitter Blue, the company’s optional, $4.99 a month subscription that unlocks additional features, into a more expensive subscription that also verifies users.”
While the exact price is subject to change, the plan is to charge $19.99 per month for the new version of Twitter Blue.
The report went on to note that people with existing verified accounts will lose their badge in 90 days if they do not sign up for the package and pay the new price.
According to the outlet, Musk reportedly informed employees that they have to meet a deadline — launching the new product by the end of the first week of November — or else they will be fired.
In a tweet on Sunday evening, Musk stated that “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
It was initially reported that the tech billionaire planned to cut up to 75% of Twitter’s employees, though it is now expected that he will be cutting closer to 50% of the workforce in the very near future.
Ross Gerber, the chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, claims that a top official from Musk’s team told him that major layoffs were on the horizon.
“I was told to expect somewhere around 50 percent of people will be laid off,” Gerber said.
The New York Times reported that Musk has “ordered the cuts across the company, with some teams to be trimmed more than others,” adding that “some managers [were] being asked to draw up lists of employees to cut.”
