Twitter verification to hit South Africans in the pocket

By Pete Kent

South African born multi-billionaire Elon Musk is gunning for high profile individuals as days for free Twitter with blue tick will be over soon.

This is after an announcement by Twitter’s new ‘Chief Twit’ Elon Musk, that the social media giant is revamping its verification process.

The new boss said, Twitter cannot rely on advertisers alone as its income stream.

“We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?” reads a twit by Elon Musk.

However, It should be noted that this price is not final and is likely still being debated..

“I will explain the rationale in the longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots and trolls.” he added.

High profile individuals such as presidents, politicians, actors, journalists, musicians among others are frequently identified by a blue tick next to their names on Twitter.

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Twitter accounts that have a blue tick symbol are regarded as legitimate and the information provided by these people about their profession status is considered to be accurate.

How much is Elon Musk going to make from blue tick?

Twitter has about 400 000 blue tick users. It will cost $96(R1728) a year, for a verified person.

This means, Elon Musk will smile more on the way to the bank with a $3.4m which is approximately, R700m per year from verified accounts only.