Stabroek News Sunday

Musk’s Twitter updates app to start charging $8 for blue checkmark

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(Reuters) - Twitter on Saturday updated its app in Apple’s App Store to begin charging $8 for sought-after blue check verificati­on marks, in Elon Musk’s first major revision of the social media platform.

The change comes a week after Musk took over the social media company in a $44 billion deal. The billionair­e entreprene­ur and CEO of electric car maker Tesla cut half the staff at Twitter and has vowed to start charging users more.

In an update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said those who “sign up now” for $7.99 a month can receive the blue checkmark next to their user names, “just like the celebritie­s, companies and politician­s you already follow.”

Before Musk took over, blue check marks next to a person’s user name meant Twitter confirmed the account belonged to the person or company claiming it. It was not immediatel­y clear how or if Twitter planned to verify the identity of the user beyond charging a fee.

According to the iOS notificati­on, other benefits in the update include “half the ads”, the ability to post longer videos to Twitter and priority ranking for quality content.

Twitter and Musk, via Tesla, did not immediatel­y respond to a request for comment.

Twitter’s new boss flagged the updates earlier this week in his push to monetize the social media network and make it less reliant on ads. Twitter is currently free for most users.

Twitter’s update said the new service with verificati­on will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

“As soon as we confirm it’s working well in the initial set of countries and we have the translatio­n work done, it will roll out worldwide,” Musk said in a tweet on Saturday.

Twitter Blue will roll out in India in “hopefully less than a month,” Musk tweeted in reply to a question from a follower.

In a separate tweet, Musk also added that “fixing search is a top priority” on Twitter.

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