Users dislike the thought of having to pay $8 for a checkmark. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has been implementing several significant changes to the structure and staff of the social media site Twitter ever since he acquired ownership of it last week. These changes seek in part to increase platform income because Musk has stated that it is insufficient to rely just on advertising revenue.
Musk has proposed charging users to have the blue verification checkmark displayed on their accounts as one way to capitalize on Twitter’s user base. Musk first suggested a $20 monthly price for this, but both large and small consumers instantly objected. The most notable exchange was Musk and renowned novelist Steven King, who said that he would never pay for verification and would instead leave the network.
This revised pricing idea hasn’t been received any better than the initial one, with several online and media celebrities criticizing Musk for making such a suggestion.
So, let me ask you this: Why should anyone pay to be verified on Twitter if you’re trying to promote equality? Just stamp everyone with a blue checkmark, Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, remarked on Wednesday. Why do you charge people, I ask? Do you see why it makes no sense to provide something as “equality” and then charge for it? Can you picture MLK declaring, “I have a dream,” in public? It wouldn’t be the same as saying, “I have a dream, and I’ll tell you everything about it for $8.99 a month.”
