The current Twitter Blue subscription costs $4,99 and offers additional services to users. Now, Elon Musk has announced that the modality will cost US$7,99, confirming some features, but without detailing all the details, such as, for example, the launch date of the service.
It is already known that joining this modality will mean that users will receive the 'blue visa', similar to what is shown in the profiles of verified accounts of “celebrities, companies and politicians”. This verification system was launched in 2009, with Twitter being forced to give in to pressure to authenticate the accounts of public figures and agencies, to ensure greater protection of public opinion and information.
In addition to the verified account, users who join this modality will see half of the advertisements and be able to publish longer videos on the platform, according to the Time newspaper. On November 5, Musk wrote that users of verified accounts will lose their blue visa within a few months if they do not adhere to the new modality. The executive also said that accounts that try to impersonate other previously verified profiles will be suspended.
There are still doubts about how the new verification process will work and, in the US, voices are raised concerned about the effect of this change, especially at an election time, with journalists, scientists and politicians expressing their fears: “My main concern with the new Twitter Blue is that the blue tick has been seen as a certificate of trust as 'we verify that the person who wrote is who they claim to be' (…) we are now taking your dollars and your word”, wrote Chris Krebs, the former director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The current Twitter Blue service, still without the changes now announced, promises “access to exclusive features”, such as editing tweets and which is available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
