Back then, Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk said that he is holding off relaunching Blue Verified until there is high confidence in stopping impersonation. Now, the social media company has announced that it will be relaunching its subscription service Twitter Blue on Monday, December 12 but it will cost more for Apple users. The new revamped version of its subscription service will cost $8 per month for desktop users and $11 a month when users subscribe directly through its iOS to get access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark. “We’re relaunching Twitter Blue on Monday – subscribe on web for $8/month or on iOS for $11/month to get access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark,” the social media company wrote in a series of tweets while making the announcement. “When you subscribe you’ll get Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads, reader mode, and a blue checkmark (after your account has been reviewed),” it added. “We’ll begin replacing that “official” label with a gold checkmark for businesses, and later in the week a grey checkmark for government and multilateral accounts.” Further, subscribers will be able to change their handle, display name, or profile photo after obtaining verified status, but the company will temporarily take away their blue checkmark until their account is reviewed again. “We’ve added a review step before applying a blue checkmark to an account as one of our new steps to combat impersonation (which is against the Twitter Rules,” said Twitter product manager Esther Crawford in a separate thread.
— Twitter (@Twitter) December 10, 2022 “Thanks for your patience as we’ve worked to make Blue better – we’re excited and looking forward to sharing more with you soon!” it concluded. Twitter says subscribers will be able to see 50 percent fewer ads, post longer videos, and have early access to select new features with Twitter Blue labs, and Blue subscriber tweets will be shown on top of non-verified users. While it’s unclear why Twitter is charging extra for Apple users, it is likely due to the 30 percent commission that Apple Inc. takes on revenues from iOS apps on its App Store. Previously, Musk claimed Apple “threatened” to block Twitter from its App Store and also criticized the commission cut, calling it a “hidden 30 percent tax on the Internet”. However, after the following meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, he tweeted that Twitter being removed from Apple’s app store was a “misunderstanding” and the issue has been “resolved”.
