Elon Musk outlines new blue tick benefits for Twitter users

Elon Musk has confirmed that people will be charged on a monthly basis for blue tick verification on Twitter and has outlined some of the benefits.

The social media platform's new billionaire owner has wasted no time in ringing the changes, and he has now outlined how his new blue tick system will work.

Taking to Twitter (naturally), he wrote: "Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is b******t.

"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month. Price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.

"You will also get:

- Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam

- Ability to post long video & audio

- Half as many ads

"And paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us."

The verification system is currently designed to help users identify authentic and influential users on the platform, including government figures, sports stars, entertainment figures, journalists and major brands and organisations.

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After completing his $44 billion (£38 billion) takeover of the platform last week, Musk’s first few days in charge of the company have been eventful.

Amid growing speculation that he would allow banned accounts back onto the platform, he said on Friday that a content moderation council would be created and no 'major' content or reinstatement decisions would be made before it had convened.

But in an exchange with another user, Musk hinted at one approach to content moderation, suggesting users could select a film-style age rating to filter content when using the site.

“Being able to select which version of Twitter you want is probably better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating,” he said.

“The rating of the tweet itself could be self-selected, then modified by user feedback."

The Tesla and SpaceX owner was also widely criticised for tweeting, before later deleting, a link to a conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of senior Democratic politician Nancy Pelosi.

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That incident has sparked further concern about the Musk’s belief in absolute free speech and a possible subsequent loosening of content moderation now he has control of Twitter, which many campaigners have warned will see abuse, harassment and misinformation grow on the site.

Over the weekend, he also denied reports that he planned to dismiss Twitter workers before the start of next month to avoid making certain payouts.

And Musk offered other glimpses of his possible plans for the company, including asking users in a poll on his Twitter page if the company should bring back Vine, the short-form video app which Twitter shut down in 2016 and was an early forerunner to the likes of TikTok – now a major Twitter rival in the social space.