Twitter has restarted a service dubbed Twitter Blue, where users can pay a monthly fee for a blue tick, as well as the ability to edit tweets and upload high-quality videos.
Apple users, however, will be charged more.
The the company says the revamped service will cost $8 per month on the web, or $11 per month if purchased through an app on iPhone and iPad, where in-app transactions are processed through the company’s App Store, which generally charges a 30% commission.
New price levels follow Musk’s sharp words leveled at Apple over its so-called “Apple Tax,” a longstanding issue for app developers and a source of concern for regulators around the world who have viewed the fees as excessive and financially damaging to Apple’s rivals . Musk has since claimed its feud with Apple was resolved following a meeting with the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino.
Android users can access Twitter Blue by purchasing it through a web browser, according to Esther Crawford, director of product management at Twitter.
Gold and gray added to blue as new tiles
The company announced that it would introduce a color-coded system for people, businesses and governments.
Being “verified” will now involve a verification process, or as Crawford said in a tweet last weekend, “a review step before applying a blue tick to an account as one of our new steps to combat identity theft.”
It’s a flip-flop for the company. Twitter’s first attempt to include blue checkmarks as part of the subscription program caused havoc. Many took advantage of the opportunity to buy “verification” and flooded the site with fake accounts. Advertisers, politicians and even Musk himself have impersonated people. The chaos forced the billionaire to pause the service after just two days.
Musk now says there will be three colors to buy: gold for business; gray for governments and a blue check for prominent figures, including celebrities.
When Musk first devised the plan for people to buy the once coveted and restricted blue checkmarks, he was met with internal resistance from Twitter’s trust and safety experts. They feared the move would be weaponized by those seeking to spread disinformation, including repressive regimes hoping to spread propaganda.
Musk ignored them. Twitter’s trust and safety team, like others in the company, has been gutted with layoffs and resignations.
Musk sees Twitter Blue as part of his mission to make money on the platform other than through advertising, which accounts for about 90% of Twitter’s revenue. But since Musk’s chaotic reign began in late October, major advertisers have fled in droves.
The company has long struggled to grow its service as bigger rivals like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have done and, even before Musk took over, the company’s advertising business was far from robust. .
Musk announced bankruptcy as a possible option for Twitter.
Twitter: users temporarily lose control when profile is changed
Musk said that before an account can receive verification, it will be verified manually, although he didn’t fully explain how the process would work, but the company said that if a subscriber changes their nickname, name posting or photo, they would temporarily lose their tick until the authenticity of the profile is confirmed.
Twitter did not respond to questions about whether it still had the resources to undertake such an arduous task after laying off more than half of the company’s staff.
“With a reduced workforce, it remains to be seen if it will be possible to prevent fraud, identity theft and scams with their new identity verification methodology,” said Rachel Tobac, previously. CEO of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security, to NPR. “The crooks will quickly determine how they can overwhelm or manipulate the identity verification system to be ‘authenticated’ as an entity they are not.”
Twitter, which no longer has a communications staff, did not respond to a request for comment.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To learn more, visit https://www.npr.org.
#Elon #Musk #relaunches #Twitter #Blue #higher #price #tag #iPhone #users