Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday November 1 unveiled a new iteration of "Twitter Blue," for which he intended to charge USD 8 per month in exchange for priority in responses, mentions, and searches.
Musk announced on Twitter, "Power to the people! Blue for USD 8/month. Twitter's existing lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is bullshit."
Additionally, Musk also tweeted, "To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8".
The news that Twitter would charge users USD 19.99 (more than Rs 1600) for the new Twitter Blue subscription, which adds extra functionality like editing and undoing tweets, prompted this announcement, according to a number of media reports.
As confirmed by Musk, the new services will aid customers gather, "Prioritization of responses, mentions, and searches, which is crucial for preventing spam and scam - The ability to publish lengthy audio and video content - Half as many adverts."
According to buying power parity, prices are modified by country. Additionally, content producers will now be able earn revenues from their contents through a new mode of revenue system intended for the same purpose on Twitter, confirmed Elon Musk.
As per reports, Stephen King's tweet served as the catalyst for the entire situation. King tweeted on Monday, "$20 a month to keep my blue check?" before using an obscenity. "They must reimburse me. I'm gone like Enron if that is implemented." It's the principle of the thing, not the money, King wrote in response to this later.
The Twitter Blue membership became publicly available over a year ago as a way to read articles from some publishers without ads and make other changes to the app, such changing the colour of the app's icon on the home screen.
Twitter agreed to accept Musk's offer to purchase and privatise the social media platform in April. Musk quickly cast doubt on his willingness to uphold the deal, claiming that the business had not fully disclosed the quantity of spam and phoney accounts using the site. Elon Musk, who had previously expressed interest in purchasing Twitter, abruptly ended the agreement in July.
The market had a strong fall following Musk's announcement of the contract termination. Later, Twitter sued Musk, alleging that he had used bots as a cover to back out of a transaction. Last week, Musk reiterated that he will proceed with the purchase of Twitter at the initially agreed-upon price of USD 54.20 per share.