In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Musk called the current verification system “a system of lords and peasants,” where prominent people verify their identity from the platform and are recognized with a blue checkmark with their name.
The system was designed as a way to ensure users could see if certain accounts were actually who they claimed to be, but the company was never explicitly clear about the qualifications required for verification.
On Tuesday, Musk tweeted that he wants to change the system so that anyone can be verified as long as they’re willing to pay $8 a month, with “the price adjusted per country based on purchasing power parity.”
In return, verified users will be prioritized in searches and reports, which Musk believes is necessary to eliminate the “spam/fraud” he says plagues the system.
It also said that verified users will be able to post longer tweets, which are currently limited to 280 characters, and videos, which are currently limited to just over two minutes.
In return, Musk said, verified users would be subjected to fewer ads and suggested he was open to the idea of paying some users for the content they produce on the platform.
“Power to the people!”, he said.
The current Twitter Lords & Peasants system of who has or doesn’t have a blue tick is bullshit.
Power to the people! Blue for $8/mo.
—@elonmusk
The idea is just the latest in an eventful week at the company. Last Friday, Musk’s long and difficult road to taking over Twitter finally came to fruition. Once he took control of the company, his first move was to fire most of the existing management team.
Filings with regulators on Monday show he was named the company’s CEO and sole board member.
Musk has since spent most of his time talking about what he wants to change about the platform, but Tuesday’s Twitter thread was the first time he offered anything close to concrete details.
WATCHES | Musk’s takeover of Twitter has many users threatening to quit:
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has some users considering leaving the site
Some Twitter users say they are worried that Elon Musk’s plans to loosen moderation rules on the site will make it a hotbed of hate speech and abuse, and are considering quitting the social media platform before it goes sideways. In addition to Twitter, Musk is currently the CEO of four other companies: electric car maker Tesla, rocket company SpaceX, brain chip startup Neuralink, and tunnel builder Boring Company. Jack Dorsey — who founded Twitter and was CEO before Parag Agrawal, who was among those fired recently — was pushed to step down from the company’s top job because investors believed he couldn’t do the job while he was also CEO of Block Inc. , which runs the Square payments platform.
