Though Twitter has pushed back the rollout of the $8 subscription-based blue verification mark in order to stay vigilant during the current US midterm elections, ensuring there’s no interference or chances to use it to sow discord, the date set out for this controversial move is closer than ever, and has been earmarked for as early as late Tuesday if not Wednesday, November 9.
The news comes just days after big boss Elon Musk alluded to the introduction of the subscription model on his account in the aftermath of his $44 billion Twitter takeover, and over six months since his infamous ‘Woke Netflix‘ comments in April.
It’s understood the date was duly confirmed by verified sources from Slack as per this New York Times report, with a decision reportedly made to move the launch of this much-talked about new system until after the current US midterm elections.
“Power to the people,” recent Twitter app update read. “Your account will get a blue checkmark (for $7.99) , just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”
Earlier on Sunday, we tried testing it by subscribing to Twitter Blue but weren’t able to do much. Twitter says it’s continuing to test these new features and not everyone will have access for now, and has since only released this new version for iOS only.
And while many Twitter users have raised concerns about the rollout of this release, with some wondering how could a so called free speech excerise come with a cost attached to it, and others suggesting to Twitter to consider implementing a variety of verification options as per below Twitter, it remains to be seen how will the powers that be at Twitter will go about this.
Whether it’s going to be a free pass for all, as long as you are willing to fork out the prescribed $8 fee for the once sought-after blue verification checkmark, it is yet to be found out.
