Twitter blue tick fee: Stephen King miffed; Elon Musk 'suggests' lower rate

Ever since billionaire Elon Musk took over social networking platform Twitter, there has been much talk of plans to charge a $20 monthly fee for verified users to retain the coveted ‘blue tick’. Verified users would get 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue tick. Employees working on the project were reportedly told on Sunday that they must launch the feature within November 7 or get fired.

The plan met with an unlikely opponent in writer Stephen King. “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron,” said in a stern Twitter post on Monday.

$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 31, 2022

The reactions poured in. Some agreed with him completely, while others wondered why a successful author like him would bicker over a relatively small fee. “That’s a bit odd. You can well afford it,” tweeted one of his followers. “It ain’t the money, it’s the principal of the thing,” shot back the writer, whose famous works include Salem’s Lot, IT, 11/22/63 and The Stand.

In need of money

Musk responded to the tweet on Tuesday, saying Twitter needs a revenue model that doesn’t bank fully on advertisers. “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers,” he said, adding: “How about $8?”

We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

“I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls,” he said in another tweet.

Also read: As Musk takes over Twitter, Dorsey testing new social media app

Days after taking over the company, Musk, replying to a tweet on Sunday, said the influential social media platform’s verification process was “being revamped.” Though he did not reveal any details, technology newsletter Platformer reported on the same day that the blue tick would come at a price. 

Twitter Blue service

Twitter Blue was launched in June 2021 as the platform’s first subscription service. It offers “exclusive access to premium features” based on a monthly subscription. It also has a feature that allows you to edit tweets.

This edit feature was activated only earlier in October, upon Musk’s insistence. Using a Twitter poll, he had asked his millions of followers in April whether they wanted such a feature. Over 70 per cent of those who took part in the poll said “yes”.