Elon Musk relaunched a Twitter subscription service on Monday, following an embarrassing wave of fake accounts that scared advertisers and cast doubt on the site’s future.
Last month’s attempt came just ten days after Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the influential platform and a huge round of layoffs that saw company staff levels halved, including teams of workers moderating content.
The relaunch of Twitter Blue coincides with Elon Musk’s increased support for right-wing causes, such as opposition to the use of gender-neutral pronouns and the US government’s response to Covid-19.
The subscription service costs $8 per month for users who access Twitter via the web and $11 for those who sign up via an Apple device. Musk’s rage at Apple charging up to a 30% service fee on its app store could explain the higher price.
When Twitter Blue was first introduced, there was a stir because numerous fake accounts that claimed to be businesses or celebrities started to appear. Musk’s team was forced to abandon the plan as a result.
This time, the company announced that starting Monday, subscribers would have to be reviewed by Twitter before receiving the coveted blue check mark.
The checkmark will be gold for businesses and grey for government organisations later this week, according to the announcement.
A blue checkmark on an account, indicating that it has been verified by Twitter, was previously free but reserved for organisations and public figures in order to avoid impersonation and misinformation.
The new version had not yet gone live on the Twitter website as of 1600 GMT.
The Twitter Blue subscription service will cost $8 per month for users accessing Twitter via the web and $11 for those signing up via an Apple device in the US relaunch.
Musk’s rage at Apple charging up to 30% service fees on the app store while prohibiting other payment methods could explain the extra cost for iPhone users.
