Twitter has updated its $8 subscription service rules to prevent new accounts from getting a blue checkmark. Following Elon Musk's chaotic $44 billion takeover last month, Twitter has undergone many changes, and not all of them have been pleasant. Musk started his first day as the company owner by firing several members of Twitter's top management team, including CEO Parag Agarwal, before laying off nearly 50 percent of its workforce. Musk also announced that Twitter would permanently ban impersonators if those accounts are not clearly labeled as parodies.
Much of the controversy, however, has centered around the $8 Twitter Blue subscription fee that Musk has made mandatory for the blue check mark. While Musk claims that being able to purchase the badge would democratize Twitter and end the "lords and peasants system" on the platform, many users seem to believe that paying for the blue badge will reduce its relevance and prevent people from easily differentiating genuine accounts from fake ones. Interestingly, Musk had initially proposed a $20 monthly fee for the blue badge before settling for $8 following massive protests from many users, including acclaimed horror novelist Stephen King.
Twitter has seemingly edited its Twitter Blue support page to add a new clause that says, "new Twitter accounts created on or after November 9, 2022 will not be able to sign up for Twitter Blue at this time." The company has given no reason for its decision, nor has it said when it expects new accounts to be eligible for the Twitter Blue subscription.
Twitter Is Adding Confusion To Chaos
In addition to the rule mentioned above, the Twitter Blue support page also says that the new $8 plan is currently only available on iOS in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. For some reason, users won't be able to subscribe to the service either from an Android device or on the website for now. That will also likely change at some stage, but there's no word on when that might happen.
Twitter's new policy comes after a slew of 'verified' accounts recently popped up on the platform, impersonating public figures and reputable companies. As reported by The Verge, the new accounts tweeted out misleading messages by pretending to be Lakers star LeBron James, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, video game company Nintendo, and more. Almost all of these accounts were suspended within a few hours per Twitter's new policy against impersonators, but not before causing confusion and hilarity in equal measure. Musk and Twitter are hoping that the new policy against giving out the blue badge to new accounts will help prevent repetitions of such incidents in the future.