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After a rather rocky and controversial launch, Twitter Blue is returning on December 12, priced at $8/month on the web and $11/month on iOS or make up for the 30% ‘Apple tax’.
Additionally, to get the fabled blue checkmark, users will have to register their phone number first, and any changes in the “handle, display name or photo” will remove the mark until the account is reviewed again. This verification will be done before handing out the blue checkmark to tackle impersonation — a rather out-of-control problem that happened when the revamped subscription first launched in November.
Other features bundled with the Blue subscription include tweet edits, 1080p uploads and reader mode. Tweets from verified users will be prioritised both in search and replies; verified users will also see 50% fewer ads than non-verified folk and will be able to post longer videos. There’s also early access to select new Twitter features with Twitter Blue Labs.
Finally, the grey ‘official’ checkmark will be replaced with a gold checkmark for business later in the week with a grey checkmark for government and multilateral accounts.
Of course, this only handles the Twitter Blue situation going on at the company. Twitter’s still under FTC’s scanner as recent changes to the company have now bypassed its standard data governance process, opening up Twitter to massive fines, potentially in the billions of dollars, by the FTC.
There’s also the issue of the company going bankrupt, as pointed out by Musk himself in his first email to the Twitter workforce, or whatever is left of it anyways. It remains to be seen whether or not this revamped subscription can raise Twitter’s subscription revenue to nearly half the total company income as hoped by Musk.
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