Elon Musk asks Twitter employees to find a way to charge for verified accounts | Technology

Twitter plans to charge for having a verified account with the blue badge. As reported by media such as TheVerge either Financial Times, Elon Musk has demanded that his employees find a solution as quickly as possible to monetize this authentication, which allows users to know that a public interest account is authentic, relevant and active. The price could be $19.99 a month for those who want to get or keep their account verified.

This Sunday, Musk responded to a user who has been denied the blue badge on several occasions, that “the entire verification process is being renewed at this time.” As stated by the British newspaper, which has had access to internal company emails, Twitter employees “have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week” to develop the monetization model that Musk is asking for. . They reportedly had until November 7 to launch the new feature “if they don’t want to be fired.” A Twitter manager told the newspaper that this lawsuit “opens another case of abuse” by the new owner and several employees fear layoffs, after months of uncertainty in the company.

The verification policy change would be included in the monthly Twitter Blue subscription, which gives access to additional features. Currently, this service costs $4.99 and is only available in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A person familiar with Musk’s intentions before buying Twitter told Financial Times that various pricing options had been discussed, ranging from $9.99 to $14.99 per month. Should individuals or brands refuse to pay, their verification would be removed, making them more vulnerable to identity theft on the platform.

However, it seems that users are not willing to scratch their pockets to have the service. In a Twitter poll conducted by a Musk adviser with almost a million people, cited by the British newspaper, 80% of users said they would not pay to be verified, while 11% might be willing to pay five dollars. a month. Only 5% of the participants would pay fifteen dollars. Until now, the verification process has been carried out free of charge.

Fake accounts is a big problem for Twitter, so much so that it was one of the reasons that led Elon Musk to withdraw the purchase offer. In April, the company revealed that it had miscalculated its viewing figures at two million users for about three years, due to an error.

Elon Musk closed the purchase of Twitter on October 27. His first decision was to fire the CEO, Parag Agrawal; CFO Ned Segal; General Counsel, Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel, Sean Edgett.

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