Elon Musk is considering making verification a Twitter Blue benefit

With Elon Musk is responsibleTwitter plans to raise the price of its Blue Subscription plan from $5 to $20 per month and mandatory for verified users, according to platformer‘s Casey Newton and The edge. When the plan is launched, verified users (celebrities, politicians, journalists, etc.) must sign up for the service within 90 days or they will lose the blue tick. And staff working on the project have reportedly been told they will be fired if they don’t implement the changes by November 7.

Twitter launched Blue late last year in the US for $3 per monthbut strengthened the price in July at $5. It offers subscribers features like featured articles, custom icons, and more recently, the ability to do so edit tweets. The company hasn’t disclosed subscriber counts, earnings, or other details for Twitter Blue, but the majority of its revenue (89 percent) comes from advertising, it said Investopedia.

Musk cabled the move yesterday, tweeting that “the entire verification process is being overhauled.” As Newton pointed out, Twitter’s @verified currently follows around 428,000 accounts that carry the blue tick, a fraction of the site’s 206 million daily active users.

Many of these people have tweeted about the change, and many wouldn’t pay $20 to keep their verified status. At the same time, users have pointed out that the new system could increase Twitter’s bot and spam problems, which Musk seems to hate. “The point of Twitter verification is that… it’s useful to be able to verify that what they’re saying is coming from them.” tweeted Cosmologist and author Katie Mack. “It’s supposed to help fight disinformation, not be a status symbol.”

Musk has been very busy in the few days that he has been “head jerk.” He supposedly has ordered company-wide layoffs, acc The New York Times. The SpaceX and Tesla boss reportedly urged managers on Saturday to start compiling lists of employees to be cut.