Louise Bernard, with Solène Delinger 9:58 a.m., November 01, 2022

Elon Musk has officially taken control of Twitter for $44 billion, ushering in an uncertain new era for the influencer platform.

First major change: the richest man in the world wants to charge certified accounts, those with a small blue logo to the right of their name.

A way for Elon Musk to earn even more money. 

Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter, wants to charge certified accounts, those with a small blue logo to the right of their name.

These are accounts of celebrities, political figures, media, official institutions etc... The new boss of Twitter wants them to pay a monthly subscription, so that these accounts keep their little logo, a symbol of seriousness, of authenticity.

A way to prove that it is an official account and thus avoid identity theft.

"Twitter blue" would increase to $19.99 per month

According to American media

The Verge

, Elon Musk demanded that Twitter employees set up a payment system within a week, by November 7.

Otherwise, they will be fired.

The idea is to require certified accounts to pay for a “Twitter blue” subscription which would increase to 19.99 dollars per month instead of the current 4.99 dollars.

"Twitter blue" is a subscription that already exists in some countries (not in France) and which gives access to certain premium features. 

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A way for Elon Musk to make more money

Certified accounts will have 90 days to subscribe, otherwise they will lose their little badge.

What is still unknown, since there has been no official communication, is whether the rule will also apply in countries that do not yet have access to the "Twitter blue" subscription, such as France.

Will certified accounts also have to pay?

To be continued…

For Elon Musk, it's obviously a way to make more money: "We have to pay the bills one way or another. Twitter can't rely on ads alone."

This is what he tweeted this morning in response to Stephen King.

The writer protested against this new subscription: "20 dollars a month to keep my certification? Fuck that. They should be paying me. If it's set up, I'm leaving". 

Elon Musk also justified himself by saying that it was the "only way to defeat robots and trolls", which he would explain at length, before the payment requests were put in place.