Less than a week has passed since Elon Musk will become the owner (or “Chief Jerk”, as he calls the position) Twitterand already his plans to overhaul the vetting process sound like a terrible idea.
In accordance with Edge (opens in a new tab)Musk plans to raise the monthly price of Twitter Blue, giving you the option edit tweets, as well as custom icons and exclusive features from $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$5.99 to $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$20.99. When following, Twitter Blue users will now also be verified, giving them a blue tick next to their username – something that was previously restricted to verified users such as prominent public figures, politicians and members of the media.
Users who have already been verified will have a 90-day window to sign up for this new plan or they will lose their blue tick.
This could already be a fatal decision for the platform, especially if it could allow trolls with few followers to pay for verification, rendering the blue tick system irrelevant.
Paying for a blue tick is just not right
The entire verification process is now being modernizedOctober 30, 2022
Receiving checked (opens in a new tab) on Twitter can be a slow, frustrating affair where you have to send a few web links to the company as proof that you’re a real person and worthy of a blue tick.
Some people got rejected multiple times and it took me two tries to get the blue tick. I still don’t know why I was rejected the first time, but I must say that the process is something to watch.
However, charging $20 a month for it is not the way to go. This is equivalent to opening the floodgates and diminishes the meaning of the verification that was supposed to help users know if an account is genuine or of public interest. At four times the current price of a Twitter Blue subscription, it’s going to be a hard sell.
Coupled with the fact that Musk allegedly told Blue’s developers that they would be fired if the feature didn’t launch by November 7th, we could be seeing the beginning of Twitter’s dark days and possibly the end of how you can freely use your account on platform.
https://www.techradar.com/news/elon-musks-latest-stupid-twitter-idea-could-kill-off-the-platform-for-good/
