Twitter’s new multi-billionare owner Elon Musk has said that the verification process on the platform, which adds a blue tick next to the profile name, is being revamped, media reported on Monday.
He announced the plan in a tweet when a user said that he was denied the prestigious blue tick despite having a large follower base. While the official details about the new verification process remain unclear, The Verge reports the company will soon charge users for the blue tick.
According to the report, the blue tick will be limited to Twitter Blue members – Twitter’s subscription that brings extra features like edit and undo tweets. The company is also reportedly planning to increase the Blue fee to $19.99 (roughly Rs 1,600).
Moreover, users who are already verified will get 90 days to subscribe to Twitter Blue in order to keep the blue tick on their profile. It remains unclear whether Twitter will change rules to make the verification process more strict or lenient.
The report also points out that Twitter engineers are given a deadline to revamp the Twitter verification process or they will lose their jobs. It is not even a week since Musk formally acquired Twitter, though he has already fired some key players. The list includes former CEO Parag Agrawal, who took the role in late November last year. Other notable figures, such as Twitter CFO Ned Segal and policy chief Vijaya Gadda have also been laid off.
The report highlights that staff working on the new verification have to meet a deadline of November 7.
Meanwhile, a separate report notes that Musk is planning to trim the Twitter workforce in the coming days, but the exact details remain unclear.