Elon Musk may charge businesses $1,000/month to keep Twitter gold badge: Report
The report was confirmed by tech news site The Information, which added that details are still being finalised and the price structure could be changed.
Businesses may now have to fork over $1000 per month to retain the gold verification badge on Twitter, according to a report tweeted by social media consultant Matt Navarra. Screenshots of Twitter’s offer of $1000 to verify organisations and an additional $50 per month for affiliate accounts were shared by Navarra. The report was confirmed by tech news site The Information, which added that details are still being finalised and the price structure could be changed.
As per the screenshots of a mail allegedly sent by Twitter employees, the new proposal is called Verified for Organizations. It was first announced by Twitter on January 14, stating that the verification plan, formerly known as Blue for Business, will be launched soon. It also added that there’s an option to access it early through a waiting list process.
The latest plan to generate revenue will also include ‘Tweet Boosting’ which reportedly increases the reach of the tweets sent out by the organisations and its affiliates. New owner Elon Musk’s efforts to ramp up subscription revenue with the $8 per month Twitter Blue service received flak after it led to an avalanche of impersonators on the microblogging site. The gold check marks were introduced by Musk while relaunching the plan in December last year as a replacement for the blue ticks, which were bought by individuals.
Musk had also announced that the “legacy” verified accounts prior to the Twitter Blue service will be discontinued in the coming months, calling it “corrupt and nonsensical.”
On Friday, a jury decided Musk didn’t deceive investors with his 2018 tweets about a Tesla buyout that never happened. On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private. The tweets caused Twitter's stock to surge during a 10-day period before falling after Musk abandoned a deal in which he never had a firm financing commitment, based on evidence presented during the three-week trial.
