Elon Musk is reportedly considering charging Twitter users $20 per month for verified status, in response Author Stephen King said he’ll quit the site if that is implemented.
“$20 a month to keep my blue check? Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
– Stephen King, October 31, 2022
Musk is looking for ways to make the platform more profitable, a Twitter subscription model would open a new source of revenue aside from its core advertising model.
However, the change could drive away some of Twitter’s biggest users, and the proposed idea has already received backlash from multiple directions.
“I think they’re going to be in for a rude surprise for how many people will pay $20 a month for a blue check.”
– Josh Marshall, Founder of Talking Points Memo, October 31, 2022
Other social networks, like TikTok and Meta, are doing the opposite and pays big names and influencers that create content on their platforms to drive growth.
