Elon Musk has implemented a policy where organizations must pay $1,000 per month to obtain a verified blue checkmark on their Twitter accounts, causing frustration among some companies.
Starting April 1st, Twitter plans to remove legacy verified blue ticks from users’ accounts. To retain the checkmark, users must subscribe to the paid Twitter Blue service, which costs $8 per month. However, Twitter Verified Organizations face a much higher cost of $1,000 per month to receive a blue, gold, or grey checkmark. Additionally, they must pay an extra $50 per month, plus applicable taxes, for any additional affiliated business accounts in the US.
William LeGate, co-founder of Pillow-Fight, has criticized the $1,000 monthly charge as excessive and meaningless. He noted that his bedding firm wouldn’t miss the blue checkmark as it didn’t provide any significant increase in engagement.
“He said that from April 1st onwards, trolls and imposters will surpass blue checks, causing people to associate blue checkmarks with scammers, unpleasant trolls, and Musk devotees.”
In a tweet directed at Musk, BitMEX, a cryptocurrency platform, stated that the cost of verification should be borne by him and not his users. Although the company found it expensive to verify all of its users, it stated that it was “cool” with the cost. However, BitMEX did not respond to Insider’s comment request.
Music Business Worldwide, in a newsletter, stated that it reluctantly subscribed to Twitter’s monthly verified subscription. It is unclear which subscription the company paid for, and MBW did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
G Fuel, a verified energy drink company on the platform, tweeted, “We had a good run lol.”
Twitter was contacted for comment by Insider, but the company’s response was an automated message that did not address the inquiry.
One of the critics of the change on Twitter was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted, “The last time they attempted this, someone pretended to be Eli Lilly and caused their stock price to plummet by falsely claiming that insulin was free.”