Memes have flooded Twitter after new chief executive Elon Musk confirmed that verified account holders on the social media platform will have to pay $8 per month to keep blue checkmark badges on their handles.
The Indian section of Twitter users are now offering suggestions to the country's politicians to announce a waiver on Twitter's monthly fee in their election manifesto.
Others call Musk a "hypocrite" and his move "embarrassing".,
"The richest man on the earth is offering the Blue Tick only to rich people who can make him richer. More Money to Musk but in the name of Power to People. Hypocrisy Pro Max," a user commented.
"Having a blue tick will be embarrassing now. Like wearing a fake Rolex….. I would know, I have a fake Rolex," another added.
Twitter screenshot of Musk wearing gold
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Screenshot of a tweet from a Elon Musk troll
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A day before, the Tesla and SpaceX boss took to Twitter to end widespread rumors about the San Francisco-based company's move. Explaining the reasoning behind his decision, Musk said it was done to "give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators".
"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bulls***. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," he tweeted.
Musk also explained that subscribers to the Blue service will get special treatment alongside a host of features, including "priority in replies, mentions and search[es]". In addition to that, they will be able to post "long video and audio" and the incidence of advertisements on their accounts will drop to 50 percent compared with unverified users.
Since completing his $44Bln acquisition of Twitter last week, the world's richest man has tried to stamp his authority on the organization.
Musk began his Twitter reign by making radical changes to the company's leadership team, namely, sacking top executives, including former boss Parag Agrawal, legal, policy, and trust department chief Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and general counsel Sean Edgett.
Since then, the exodus from Twitter has continued with Musk reportedly replacing these individuals and other staffers by hiring at least 50 Tesla employees to work for the social network.