Twitter Could Start Charging for Verification Next Week, Edit Button Reportedly Coming to All Users

Twitter aims to start charging users for blue check verification badges as soon as next week, as part of new owner Elon Musk's plan to further monetize the social media platform, according to a new report.

twitter elon musk
The badges will be part of an $8-per-month Twitter Blue subscription, an increase of $3 over the current $4.99 per month price, which will also include priority in replies, mentions, and search, the ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads as non-paying users.

For users who already have the verification badge, such as celebrities, journalists, and other notable influencers, "chief twit" Musk intends to give them a "multi-month grace period" before they will either need to pay for the badge or lose it, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the plans. Twitter will reportedly allow government accounts to stay verified, as well as those in regions where Twitter cannot charge payment.

The company also plans to expand access to its edit function, which is currently limited to paying Twitter Blue subscribers. All Twitter account holders are expected to be given access to the long-requested edit feature, and that could also happen as early as next week, although the timing for Twitter's plans could still change, according to Bloomberg's sources.

The plan to charge for the blue verification badge has been met with controversy, with some prominent holders of the badge speaking out against the move and saying they won't pay for it.

Some critics have accused Musk of "charging for free speech," in the sense that users who don't pay up will have their posts diminished or silenced. Others however have supported the move, agreeing with Musk that it will help weed out bots and other spam accounts.


Musk is working rapidly to monetize Twitter, as the social network has historically not been particularly profitable. In addition to introducing changes to Twitter Blue, Musk has also said that he plans to bring back video service Vine. Rumors suggest that Musk has shifted more than 50 Tesla engineers over to Twitter to work on the new features.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 Cinema 4D Slack Finder Xcode 1

Apple Announces MacBook Pro Models With M4 Pro and M4 Max Chips, Thunderbolt 5 Support, and More

Wednesday October 30, 2024 8:01 am PDT by
Apple today announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, alongside a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new M4 Pro and M4 Max machines come with a minimum of 24GB of Unified Memory as standard, up from 18GB in the previous models. Both models feature three...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
m3 macbook air blue

Apple Announces MacBook Air Now Starts With Increased 16GB of RAM With No Price Increase

Wednesday October 30, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple today in its new MacBook Pro press release announced that the MacBook Air lineup now starts with 16GB of RAM, up from 8GB previously. This change applies to the 13-inch model with the M2 chip, the 13-inch model with the M3 chip, and the 15-inch model with the M3 chip. In the U.S., the MacBook Air lineup continues to start at $999, so there is no price increase associated with the...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, and More

Tuesday October 29, 2024 8:01 am PDT by
Apple today announced fully redesigned Mac mini models featuring the M4 and M4 Pro chips, a considerably smaller casing, two front-facing USB-C ports, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, and more. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The product refresh marks the first time the Mac mini has been redesigned in over a decade. The enclosure now measures just five by five inches...
Apple iPhone SE 4 5G Modem 1

iPhone SE 4 First to Get Apple-Designed 5G Modem, iPhone 17 Pro to Add Custom Wi-Fi 7 Chip

Friday November 1, 2024 4:04 am PDT by
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain. In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Skipping the New MacBook Pro? Here Are Two Bigger Changes Rumored

Thursday October 31, 2024 4:00 pm PDT by
While the new MacBook Pro lineup features faster M4 chip options, Thunderbolt 5 support for higher-end configurations, a nano-texture display option, and more, most of the previous MacBook Pro models with Apple silicon chips still offer the latest overall design, and fast performance, which might lead you to avoid upgrading this year. If you are planning to skip the new MacBook Pro, here are ...

Top Rated Comments

Butler Trumpet Avatar
26 months ago
Years ago I was so excited about Elon Musk. Tesla and SpaceX both seemed so cool - and still are. But this guy has gone off the deep end lately. Closed my Twitter account this morning.
Score: 50 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dantracht Avatar
26 months ago
I got one am enjoying watching the bird become the next MySpace right before our eyes.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1557750 Avatar
26 months ago
Elontober flows over to Elonvember, I see.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ShaisGuy Avatar
26 months ago

Good, why should it be free?

When a service is free, you know where the money is coming from.
You still get ads even if you pay the $8, so you're still in the product portfolio.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nerdAFK Avatar
26 months ago
Just have to leave this tweet here.

[MEDIA=twitter]1588025594897346560[/MEDIA]
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DavidLeblond Avatar
26 months ago
Shifting Tesla engineers over to Twitter? Yeah, I'm pretty sure Tesla and Twitter use wildly different architectures. And (I can say this with confidence, my wife owns a Tesla) Tesla really needs those engineers to fix the multitudes of bugs in their software.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)