Elon Musk on why Twitter verification cannot be free

A day after reports suggested that Elon Musk‘s Twitter is considering charging users to get verified, a number of users including American author Stephen King slammed the idea of paying money to display the coveted “Blue Tick” against their name. The displeasure is because getting a blue check mark is currently free. Soon after King’s tweet, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO replied to the novelist and briefly noted the reason for the consideration.
King’s tweet suggests that he doesn’t like the idea of paying for keeping his blue check. He even goes on to say that if the change is implemented, he’ll be “gone like Enron.”

To this, Elon Musk replied that the company needs to pay the bills as Twitter cannot wholly rely on advertisers. He also gave a revised option and asked whether the author is comfortable paying $8 instead of $20.

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

Zack Nelson, a famous YouTuber who posts technology videos on JerryRigEverything channel, also doesn’t seem to like the idea of paying for verification. He says that “Big accounts” (apparently people with verified accounts) are the reason “small accounts” come to Twitter. He argued that even “if payment is required – bots/dead accounts still need to be eliminated among the unverified.”

Musk also found a bunch of supporters, including Jane Manchun Wong, an engineer who reports on Twitter features that under development. She says that $7.99/month “sounds more reasonable for a premium app experience for a power user.” She even says a lower charge could be introduced for access to a subset of features.

Twitter poll on verification charge
Jason Calacanis, a reported longtime Musk associate and who is brought to the company, posted a poll seeking people’s view on how they are willing to pay for the Blue Tick.

At the time of writing this story, 81.7% people have voted that they wouldn’t pay, 10.5% agreed on a charge of $5, some are comfortable with $15 and others (2.4%) voted for $10 a month.