An early version of the subscription service launched in early November but wreaked havoc on the platform with the emergence of a large number of accounts claiming to represent certain individuals or companies. The service was immediately suspended and its relaunch was delayed numerous times. However, “Twitter” has tightened the conditions for obtaining account verification this time, as the user must have opened their account at least 90 days ago and linked it to a real, not a “fake” phone number.
In addition, the user must have activated their account at least once in the last month and have not changed their main account picture or name in the last week.
Users who have previously obtained the authentication mark can keep it without paying anything, according to the terms published by Twitter. The new subscription service will be available first in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK for $8 a month or $11 for Apple’s iOS devices.
The platform has not provided an official explanation for the difference in the two prices, but Musk had previously criticized the profit (30%) that Apple collects from the sums that users spend through “the Apple Store”.
This service should allow the Twitter platform, acquired by Musk at the end of October for 44 billion dollars, to diversify its revenues, which are limited to advertising. However, ad revenue has declined in recent months with the economic downturn, while a large number of advertisers have become disillusioned with Musk’s acquisition of the platform, out of fear of finding their ads in controversial content.
Musk had fired half of the platform’s employees, including those responsible for content moderation, and reactivated the accounts of previously suspended personalities such as Donald Trump.
Last weekend, Musk released a series of controversial tweets, attacking former Twitter trust and security chief Yoel Roth, neutral names that don’t show the person’s gender, and Joe Biden’s pandemic adviser Anthony Jaws.
The owner of ‘Tesla’ and ‘SpaceX’ also tried to garner attention by promoting what he called ‘Twitter files’ for ten days, a euphemism for internal documents that allegedly provide explanations for content moderation issues that have sparked controversy .
Milanesi considered Musk’s strategy ambiguous. And he added that the billionaire “wants to be seen as the one who saves democracy, but can he really do it with regard to, for example, the question of who opposes vaccines?”.
On Monday night, Elon Musk dissolved the Council on Trust and Security, an advisory body made up of experts outside of Twitter who help set the company’s oversight policy, the Washington Post and CNN reported.
