After dropping Twitter Blue due to the rise in the number of hoax accounts, Twitter is finally set to relaunch it today. Twitter Blue, which is a company’s paid verification system, will go live today for users making blue tick available for anyone who is ready to pay for it. For those whose accounts have already been verified, they will have to pay for Twitter Blue to retain their blue tick.
The Blue subscription will cost $8 for the web platform and $11 for iOS. The price is higher for Apple users to compensate for the 30 per cent transaction fee that Apple charges for in-app purchases via App Store.
For Android users, Twitter says that users can pay on the web and access the features on Android. Going forward, the company will bring the purchase option on Android too.
Twitter describes Blue as a subscription that offers subscribers access to premium features like account verification. The feature for now is available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. For those using Twitter Blue at old pricing, they will be notified about the price hike. They can either choose to continue with the subscription by paying new prices or cancel it. Similarly, for those who have already signed up on iOS for USD8, they can choose to remain on iOS or switch to web- depending on how they want to take things forward with Blue.
Twitter Blue subscribers, once their account has been reviewed, will get features like Edit tweet, 1080p video uploads, reader mode, and a blue checkmark among other benefits.
Twitter informs that it will begin replacing the “official” label with a gold checkmark for businesses, and later in the week a grey checkmark for government and multilateral accounts.
To prevent the mushrooming of hoax accounts, Twitter this time is adding a phone verification mandate before assigning a blue check mark to users.
Twitter Blue has had a rocky journey so far. It was launched last month by Elon Musk as a move to monetise the verification system to generate significant revenue and help the company survive through the upcoming economic downturn. However, Blue was pulled back two days after the launch due to a rise in the number of impersonated accounts on the platform. Musk later told his employees that Blue wouldn’t relaunch until the company is “confident about significant impersonations not happening.”
