Twitter suspends $8 subscription based verification

New York, Nov 12: Elon Musk-owned Twitter on Friday suspended the subscription-based blue tick verification labelsa fter the social media platform was flooded by a wave of imposter accounts approved by Twitter.

Earlier, the blue check was granted to celebrities, journalists and verified by the platform - precisely to prevent impersonation. Now, anyone can get one as long as they have a phone, a credit card and $8 a month. Twitter enabled the Twitter Blue for its users from US, UK and few other countries. The Twitter Blue service, which allows users to have a verified badge for free, costs $7.99 in the United States.

It has been speculated that the service is likely to cost Rs 719 per month in India and the iPhone users will be offered the service first.

Musk has announced that the verification blue tick in front of a user's name that authenticates the account will be charged eight dollars per month, prompting outrage and disbelief among some longtime users.

"Power to the people! Blue for USD 8 per month," he tweeted Tuesday, adding that the price is adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity. With that price, he said, users will also get priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which he said is essential to defeating spam/scams, as well as the ability to post long video and audio, half as many ads, and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the social media company.

Musk, 51, said the monthly payments from users for the blue tick "will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators".

Twitter introduced the system in 2009, after it faced a lawsuit accusing it of not doing enough to prevent imposter accounts.

with PTI inputs