Want To Stay Verified On Twitter? It Could Cost You $1,000 Per Month

In what could be added to the list of efforts by Elon Musk to drum up more revenue for Twitter, reports surfaced Friday that the company was considering charging brands $1,000 per month to remain verified.

What Happened: Users on the micro-blogging platform noticed in the last month that brands such as the NFL and Apple had been given gold verification badges signifying the “account is an official business on Twitter.”

Internal messages seen by The Information showed Twitter could charge as much as $1,000 per month and $50 per month for each account affiliated with the business. The messages said the pricing structure was still being finalized and was subject to change.

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This came as Musk takes serious steps to reduce costs at the business in the face of dwindling ad revenues. Data from Standard Media Index, as reported by Reuters, showed ad spending on Twitter decreased by 71% in December as top advertisers cut back on their spending on the social media network after the billionaire took over.

Why It Matters: Musk ordered mass layoffs, turned off data centers, closed international offices in Hong Kong, the Philippines and other countries, and he had reportedly stopped paying rent at the company’s San Francisco headquarters in an effort to cut costs.

On the revenue generation side, Musk introduced a “Twitter Blue” service, which charges regular users $8 per month to get a "blue check" verification badge, which offered some perks.

The CEO hosted a virtual garage sale, auctioning off thousands of Twitter’s in-office products including office chairs, computers, TVs and even a giant “@” sculpture.

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Photo: The Bold Bureau via Shutterstock