Twitter considers charging almost $20/month (around PHP 1,160) for verification

Twitter is planning to charge around USD 19.99 (around PHP 1,160) per month to users who will subscribe to its planned paid verification feature.

File photo: Twitter logo and Elon Musk

Twitter Blue for USD 19.99?

Based on a report by The Verge, billionaire Elon Musk, now the owner of Twitter, has given the directive to change the Twitter Blue subscription from USD 4.99 (around PHP 290) a month to USD 19.99 (around PHP 1.16K) per month.

Launched around a year ago, Twitter Blue allows its subscribers to access premium features, like viewing ad-free articles from some publishers and personalizing the app.

In the few quarters that Twitter reported earnings as a public company after that debut, advertising remained the vast majority of its revenue. Musk is keen on growing subscriptions to become half of the company’s overall revenue, The Verge noted.

With the new subscription scheme, not only will Twitter Blue unlock additional features, but also verify its users.

Existing verified users will have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark.

Meanwhile, employees working on the project were told that they need to meet a November 7 deadline to launch the feature or they will be fired.

Prior to his acquisition, Musk has been clear about wanting to revamp the social media platform, specifically on how it verifies accounts and handles bots.

The whole verification process is being revamped right now, he said in a Tweet.

Screencap from Twitter

After completing his takeover, Musk quickly made changes on Twitter, like altering the platform’s homepage for logged-out users.

He is also planning mass layoffs aimed at middle managers and engineers who have not recently contributed to the code base. This is expected to begin this week.

Are you willing to spend this much for a Twitter subscription?

Source: The Verge