Elon Musk responds to Stephen King as he threatens to leave Twitter over $20 verified charge

Elon Musk has responded to Stephen King after the novelist threatened to leave Twitter over the proposed charge for blue ticks.

Musk had previously tweeted to announce that the 'whole verification process is being revamped right now', which sent many people into a spin amid claims he was considering a $20 a month fee.

After entrepreneur Jason Calacanis posted a poll yesterday (Monday 31 October), asking people if they would pay $5, $10 or $15 a month or simply wouldn’t pay, the general consensus has so far favoured the latter, which currently has more than 81 percent of the vote.

Musk replied: “Interesting.”

Now he’s continuing to debate the matter with none other than author Stephen King, who has 6.9 million followers on Twitter and enjoys engaging with users on the platform.

In the wake of the reports, King tweeted: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron [an American company that ceased operations in 2007].”

Keen to bargain, Musk replied: “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”

He then added: “I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots and trolls.”

When many other users pointed out that King could easily afford the charge, he pointed out: “It ain't the money, it's the principal of the thing.”

Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes said she would not be ‘hanging around for whatever Elon has planned’, while Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles tweeted: "Welp. It's been fun Twitter. I'm out. See you on the other platforms, peeps.”

R&B star Toni Braxton said she felt ‘shocked and appalled’ by some of the ‘free speech’ she had seen on the platform since the acquisition.

"Hate speech under the veil of 'free speech' is unacceptable; therefore I am choosing to stay off Twitter as it is no longer a safe space for myself, my sons and other POC," Braxton added."

Modern Family actor Josh Gad is also debating leaving the platform.

He said: "Large exodus happening on this platform. Not sure if I stay or not. Leaning toward staying, but if today is a sign of things to come, not sure what the point is. Freedom of speech is great. Hate speech intended to incite harm, (with no consequences) ain’t what I signed up for."