Shortly after Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on October 27, one of the first major changes has been to Twitter’s subscription system.
Twitter’s subscription previously cost $4.99 a month for access to additional features. Now, however, Twitter is reportedly planning to sell a “Twitter Blue Subscription” that includes the Blue Mark for $19.99 a month. The Blue Mark refers to the checkmark badge shown next to a user’s profile, name, and comments and posts — in short, it signals that the account is officially recognized by the company. Under the current plan, existing verified Twitter users who don’t subscribe within 90 days will reportedly lose their Blue Checkmark.
Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter, has also said he wants to overhaul Twitter’s verified accounts and bots, and tweeted on October 31 that this overhaul is currently underway.
The whole verification process is being revamped right now
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 30, 2022
Twitter’s Twitter Blue Subscription first launched about a year ago, initially offering ad-free article reading. It also includes features such as undoing tweets, an ad-free experience, editing published tweets, organizing bookmarks into folders, pinning conversations, and uploading videos longer than 10 minutes. It originally launched at $2.99 a month before rising to $4.99.