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Elon Musk tells Stephen King that a $20 a month blue tick charge is the “only way to beat bots and trolls,” but hints he can lower the fee to $8 after the author of The Shining said, ” f**k that – they should pay me’
- Twitter CEO Elon Musk hinted he could cut $20 blue check verification fee
- He offered horror writer Stephen King a $12 discount on a Twitter exchange
- “20 bucks a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me,’ said King
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Twitter CEO Elon Musk has hinted that he could cut the $20 a month for blue check verification during an exchange with horror writer Stephen King, where he offered him a discount.
The billionaire wants to fulfill his promise to make the social media platform a profit by introducing a fee for Twitter users who want to keep their verification badge.
But in a sign that the price may not be a foregone conclusion, Musk responded to a tweet from the writer complaining about the new indictment.
“20 bucks a month to keep my blue check? Damn they should pay me,” wrote King, author of The Shinning which has 6.9 million followers. “If that’s implemented, I’ll be gone, as will Enron.”
But Musk, noting the author’s complaints, seemed in the mood to negotiate.
‘We have to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?’ he replied.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the discount would only apply to King or to the wider Twitter user base as well, but the comments suggested the $20 amount wasn’t exactly set in stone.
Musk went on to say he will “explain the rationale in a longer form” before the charges are carried out, but added that this is “the only way to beat the bots and trolls.”
When users said King could more than afford the fee, he replied, “It’s not the money, it’s the principle.”
The author, who previously said he “admires Elon Musk,” has not yet responded directly to the chief executive. But many of his fans rushed to comment in his place.
“44 billion to buy the place and his new revenue stream is to push a tin cup to Stephen King,” said one Twitter user.
“It’s nice of you to give Stephen King, who is worth $500 million, a discount of $12 a month,” said another.
“He’s not leaving. They’re all threatening, but they need this platform,” said a third user.
Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis posted a poll Monday asking people whether they would pay $5, $10 or $15 a month, or nothing for verification. About 81 percent said they were unwilling to pay at the time of writing.
“Interesting,” Musk said in response to the poll.
Since the acquisition of Elon, the social media site has limited some content moderation tools.
Elon Musk is pictured talking to employees at Twitter headquarters. The CEO has reportedly issued an ultimatum to the platform’s engineers, telling them to renew the platform within two weeks
A blue tick badge allows other Twitter users to verify that other users are who they say they are. The feature has always been free since Twitter’s inception, but Musk promises to shake up the company’s operations
A blue tick badge allows other Twitter users to verify that other users are who they say they are.
The feature has always been free since Twitter’s inception, but ever since Musk first promised to buy Twitter, the world’s richest man has made it clear that he intended to shake things up at the social media giant.
The price covers unspecified features that have not yet been revealed.
The exchange comes after the new Twitter boss reportedly issued an ultimatum to the platform’s engineers, instructing them to renew Twitter’s verification system in less than a fortnight or he would be fired.
Employees were not informed about the project until October 30 and have until November 7 to deliver.