According to media reports, tech billionaire Elon Musk wants to earn money by verifying users after the expensive Twitter takeover.

Up to now, the icons with a tick, which guarantee the authenticity of the Twitter profile, are available for free.

However, they are mainly available to celebrities, companies and users with many followers such as politicians or journalists.

On Monday night, the technology blogs “Platformer” and “The Verge” reported that the verification ticks should only be available for customers of the Twitter Blue subscription offer.

It currently costs $4.99 a month.

However, "The Verge" also wrote, citing informed people and internal communication, that the verification should be part of a new, more expensive Blue version.

Twitter wants to charge $19.99 a month for this.

Software developers were given a deadline of November 7th to start the function - or they would be fired.

Musk himself only wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the verification process is currently being revised.

He had paid around $44 billion.

The money came partly from sales of his shares in electric car maker Tesla - but also from contributions from investors and loans that have to be serviced.

Twitter was recently in the red.