Elon Musk has tweeted that the new Twitter Blue package, which comes for $7.99 per month, will relaunch on November 29. The highlight of the package is the ability to have a blue verification check mark next to your name.
“Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29 to make sure that it is rock solid,” Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has said.
The original launch of the new Blue package was mired in controversy as a wave of fake verified accounts took over the platform. A fake Nintendo account posted an image of Mario flipping the bird while another fake account impersonating pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly posted a tweet saying that insulin is now free.
Soon after Elon Musk took over, many advertisers decided to pause their spending. The Volkswagen Group joined several other companies in recommending that its automotive brands, which include Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche, pause their spending on Twitter because they are concerned that their ads could appear alongside problematic content. The Danish brewing company Carlsberg Group has taken a similar step. The same goes for United Airlines.
More than a week ago Musk interacted with advertisers, asking them to use his platform while outlaying his plans for user verification, content moderation and his intention to add banking features to Twitter. Last Wednesday, he had before him a live audience (during a virtual meet) of 100,000 users.
To mitigate the wave of false “verified” accounts, the platform has even rolled out a new type of check mark called ‘Official’ badge to help distinguish accounts people need to know are real. But the problem is that people have become accustomed to relating the blue check mark to the idea of “verified” accounts.
For some time, Twitter Blue access reportedly popped up for some Indian users and the price was Rs 719 a month, which is almost $8.9 while in the US it comes for $7.99 per month.
Once Blue relaunches, Musk says that changing your “verified name” will cause you to lose your check mark until that name is confirmed by Twitter.