Twitter Blue With Checkmark Launches As Elon Musk Ends Work-from-home; Asks Employees To Focus On Revenue Genenation

Twitter Blue With Checkmark Launches As Elon Musk Ends Work-from-home, Asks Employees To Focus On Revenue Generation

The social media company, this week, officially launched the new version of Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that now includes the 'prestigious' blue checkmark for subscribers.

Ability to upload longer videos, priority replies, reduction in ads, are among the features in Twitter Blue. If you subscribe to the service today, you’ll now get the famous blue checkmark. Like majority of Twitter users, Musk apparently disdains the old system of bestowing the checkmark to self-important so-called journalists, bureaucrats and individuals who could pay exorbitant amount of money. He described the new system as “a leveling of the playing field,” a departure from “the lords and peasants situation where some people have blue check marks and some don’t.”

During a meeting with advertisers, hosted on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday, Musk addressed users' concerns about scams and impersonations using Twitter Blue. He said that, in addition to the barrier of paying $8 per month for the service, the company would also use credit card and phone data for verification purposes. He said that Twitter “will actively suspend accounts engaged in deception or trickery.”

In a note to employees on Wednesday, he wrote that “the absolute top priority is finding and suspending any verified bots/trolls/spam.”

The new Twitter owner during the hourlong Q&A with advertisers, also discussed his plans for the social media platform. He wants users to be able to buy and sell goods and services and keep money on the platform. This echoes an "everything app" -- modeled after the WeChat app -- which he has tweeted about in the past.

Twitter reportedly filed registration paperwork last week, with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, to pave the way for the social media platform to process payments.

“The rate of evolution of Twitter will be an immense step change compared to what it has been in the past,” Musk said.