From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Twitter will soon begin charging verified users $19.99 a month for the blue checkmark confirming an account’s authenticity.
The blue “verified” badge on Twitter indicates to other users that an account of public interest is authentic.
Accounts need to be “notable, authentic, and active” to be eligible.
This includes accounts of government officials, people representing prominent brands, news organisations, journalists, activists, celebrities, athletes and others.
Just a few days prior, Twitter was successfully taken over by Tesla Inc. founder and billionaire Elon Musk.
Musk had at the weekend, tweeted: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”
He did not provide full details on the process.
Twitter accounts that currently have verification will need to abide by this new system and pay for the blue badge, according to news website The Verge.
If they didn’t subscribe within 90 days, verified users will lose their blue check mark, it stated.
Additionally, workers on the project were informed on Sunday that they must launch the feature by November 7, 2022, or they risk being fired.
The new changes for verified accounts will, reportedly, be introduced under Twitter Blue.
Twitter Blue, which costs $4.99 monthly is the microblogging platform’s paid monthly subscription which offers users exclusive access to premium features such as the option to edit a tweet, undo a tweet, and read news ad-free.