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TWITTER'S GOT THE BLUES: Users all worked up about Elon Musk's $20 per month verification charge

Elon Musk intends to charge customers $20 per month for Twitter Blue, a service that currently costs $5 per month to get the coveted blue checkmark

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Elon Musk wants to charge users a fee to get the coveted "blue check" that denotes verified status since he's been in charge of Twitter. Musk intends to raise the monthly fee for Twitter Blue from $5 to $20 and add identity verification to the list of features. According to unidentified sources and internal communications, verified users would have 90 days to sign up for a membership or lose their blue checkmark.

On Twitter, a popular social messaging service used by politicians, journalists, and celebrities, a blue checkmark confirming that the person behind a profile is who he or she claims to be has become a prized status marker. On Sunday, Oct 30, team members were told that failure to implement the feature by Nov. 7 will result in termination, according to the DailyMail.

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Previously, Musk set forth his ambitious goals for the platform, which has had trouble growing its user base. His suggestions, according to the New York Times, include increasing subscriptions to make up half of the business's revenue and expanding the service to 900 million users in five years. He tweeted on Sunday that "the whole verification process is being revamped." According to Twitter's most recent earnings report, revenue from Twitter Blue, which allows users to edit tweets and removes some advertising, currently accounts for less than 8% of the business's sales.

Musk has made a number of changes since assuming official control of Twitter, on Friday, October 28, including sacking the CEO and several top officials and altering how the homepage of the website appears to visitors who aren't logged in. According to the Washington Post, he intends to fire up to three-quarters of Twitter's staff. However, social media experts say it will be difficult to transform his $44 billion buy into a flourishing and appealing offering.

Musk's acquisition, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, comes "at the worst possible time," as social media and the advertising that supports it are seeing a "massive" slowdown. While this is happening, a few famous users have declared they are leaving the service now that Elon controls it. 

Horror master Stephen King tweeted an expletive: "$20 a month to keep my blue check? ... F**K that they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron." Lynda Carter tweeted, "Twitter with verification vs. Twitter when I refuse to pay $20 a month for it." James Fell tweeted, "Grimes’s ex-boyfriend wants to charge me $20 a month to keep my blue check? He can shove that check up his ass." Salvatore Antonio tweeted, "Bahahaha— $20 a month to keep my blue check? Not likely. This platform is barely holding on to any relevance as it is. ……. " Ilhan Tanir tweeted, "I like u guys, ur podcasts & most of things you do. But I'm very afraid you guys are about to break Twitter to make money. Elon tweets conspiracy theories w no apology & doesn't concern u? I'm worried. Qanon crazies will get blue checks bc they pay money?" dmg04 chimed in, "My voice is not worth that much." Another user tweeted, "$20/month for twitter blue?? that is an outrageous price for such minor features."

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