Stephen King, Kara Swisher, Hank Green And A Whole Lot Of People Are Mad At Elon Musk's Paid 'Blue Ticks' Plan

Twitter Inc.'s new CEO Elon Musk's plans to monetize blue badges have left many people fuming.

What Happened: Musk is reportedly planning to make verification a part of Twitter Blue and increase the service cost to $20 per month. Users who won't pay might have to give up on the blue tick mark. 

The internet is not happy about it.

Author Stephen King was one of those who expressed disappointment over the anticipated fee.

$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) October 31, 2022

In response, Musk said that advertisers alone cannot "pay the bills." 

We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Here are a few other reactions:

Hard no. I pay half as much for @netflix, I get @CobraKaiSeries, @TheCrownNetflix, Call My Agent and more for free and don’t have to endure stupidly obvious and painfully wit-free jokes from @reedhastings: https://t.co/qW60IuNXmZ

— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) October 31, 2022

Hilarious thing is, I’m a current twitter Blue subscriber, but I’ll need to unsubscribe if they make verification conditional to having a Twitter Blue subscription because paying for a check mark is 100% cringe. @TwitterBlue https://t.co/i3XmiF66TF

— Hank Green (@hankgreen) October 30, 2022

I will not pay for a blue check, nor will I even pay for basic tier Twitter. All of us using this bird app and everything we do on here, we’re the product Twitter is selling. F**k if Imma pay YOU to work for you, Elon.

— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) October 31, 2022

BTW...I'll burn this app to the ground before I EVER pay $20 a month for having a blue check Twitter.

Get the f**k out of here with that bullshit. ✅️

— ChadLindberg (@ChadLindberg) October 31, 2022

See Also: Twitter Grapples With 'Organized Effort' To Spread Hate On Its Platform After Elon Musk's Takeover

Some users are concerned that the new verification approach could be a disinformation nightmare.

The point of Twitter verification is that for certain individuals/organizations it’s useful to be able to verify their statements are coming from them. (This is why so many journalists/reporters are verified.) It’s supposed to help combat disinformation, not be a status symbol.

— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) October 31, 2022

The origin of my Twitter verification:
I got it during the height of the death threats over Spider-Man/Superior Spider-Man.
At the same time a number of bad actors created multiple impersonation accounts and were doing awful things in my name.
Verification was incredibly helpful. https://t.co/5hjt1kJyF6

— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) October 31, 2022

Read Next: As Instagram, Twitter Take Steps To Verify Users' Age, Privacy Groups Warn Such Measures May Put Minors At Higher Risk