Twitter Blue Annual Subscription With Blue Check Mark at Discounted Price Rolled Out in Select Countries

Twitter rolled out blue check marks to all paying subscribers last year as part of efforts to grow revenue as Elon Musk fights to retain advertisers.

By Reuters | Updated: 19 January 2023 10:22 IST

Photo Credit: Reuters

Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year

Highlights

Since his takeover, Musk has brought many changes to Twitter
The blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts
A subscription option was rolled out last year to help Twitter revenue

Twitter said on Wednesday it was offering an annual plan for its subscription service called Twitter Blue, which includes its sought-after "verified" badge, at a discount to its monthly price.

Users can subscribe to the service for an annual price of $84, instead of a monthly subscription price of $8 on the web and $11 on Apple devices.

The discount would be available in countries including United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, Twitter said.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Since billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter for $44 billion last year, he has brought changes to the company including new subscription plans for Twitter Blue.

The blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out last year to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers.

Earlier in December, Musk stated that Twitter's Basic blue tick will have half the number of advertisements and the social media platform will offer a higher tier with no advertisements by next year.

Why Elon Musk Is Facing a US Trial Over His Tweets About Tesla in 2018

Musk had also stated that Twitter would restrict voting on policy-related polls to paying Twitter Blue subscribers, on the same day that users voted decisively in a poll for him to step down as chief executive of the social media platform.

Twitter's CEO had claimed he would abide by the results of the poll, but did not give details on when he would step down if the results said he should. He has not yet named a successor for the role.

Since taking over in October, Musk swiftly fired top management and thousands of employees, seesawed on how much to charge for the social media firm's subscription service Twitter Blue, and reinstated accounts banned under the previous management, including that of former US President Donald Trump.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

Is 2023 the year when you should finally buy a foldable phone? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.