Twitter users to pay Sh970 to get and retain verification

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced that users of the platform will now pay Sh970 monthly to get verified and to keep a verified account.

The move comes days after he faced criticism over a proposal that he had made for verified users to pay Sh2,500 for the same, in 90 days after which the blue badge would be taken away if one does not pay.

In a series of Tweets Musk said that Sh970 would also be the money charged to the current subscription service "Twitter Blue" which users pay approximately Sh500 monthly.

"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark." "Power to the people! Blue for $8/month." He tweeted.

It had been reported that the company was working to update "Twitter Blue" to also include the verification feature and was planning to

Musk first made a mention lowering the fee from the proposed Sh2,500 to Sh970 while replying to a tweet by author Stephen King, who criticized the move by the company.

"Sh2,500 a month to keep my blue check?" King tweeted. In his reply Musk wrote, "We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers, How about Sh970?".

According to Musk, subscribers would have the ability to post long videos and audio as well as get priority in replies, mentions and searches, and half as many ads as free users.

He added that users would get free articles from publishers who have them behind a paywall and would be willing to work with the company.

He said that this move would give content creators a way to earn from their content through the platform.

"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," he Tweeted.

This move by Musk comes a day after he fired the Twitter CEO and the entire board and made himself the CEO and the only board member.