Twitter is relaunching its Blue subscription today, one month after abandoning a chaotic first attempt that led to hoax accounts and general chaos. Now it’s coming back with more requirements and extra costs on some platforms.
The subscription still costs $8 per month everywhere else on the internet, but $11 for Apple users. This is to cover the 30% Apple takes from in-app purchases.
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Moreover, anyone who wishes to display a “verified checkmark” on their profile with Blue will have to first register a phone number. After that, you can change your profile photo, handle, and display name to remove the label until your account has been reviewed again.
Twitter claims that subscribers will have access to the blue checkmark and a variety of features including the ability to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos, and use reader mode. According to the company, fewer ads and priority in search results and replies are “coming soon”.
The social media giant is replacing, the “official” tag it used during the Blue push. It will do so by adding a gold checkmark to businesses and a gray checkmark later in the week for “government accounts and multilateral accounts”.
Elon Musk launched Twitter’s updated Blue verification last month but pulled it after two days following a surge in spam and fake accounts. After the billionaire dismissed his concerns about impersonations on Twitter, Senator Ed Markey (D.MA) expressed concern over the rushed rollout.
Musk also stated accounts would “be manually authenticated before the blue checkmark appears in their profiles.
