Twitter verified users to pay $20 every month

According to a story in the technology magazine The Verge, Elon Musk intends to charge users to maintain the coveted "blue check" designating verified status now that he is in charge of Twitter.

According to The Verge, Musk intends to increase the price of Twitter Blue from its current $5 monthly fee to $20 per month and add identity verification to its list of capabilities.

The Verge reported, citing unnamed sources and internal communications, that current verified users would have 90 days to join up for the subscription or lose their blue check mark.

The blue checkmark that verifies a profile's owner is who they claim to have ed symbol of prestige on Twitter.

Musk tweeted on Sunday that "the entire authentication procedure is being rebuilt right now."

Previously, Musk set forth his ambitious goals for the platform, which has had trouble growing its user base.

His suggestions, according to the New York Times, include increasing subscriptions to make up half of the business's revenue and expanding the service to 900 million users in five years.

According to Twitter's most recent earnings report, revenue from Twitter Blue, which allows users to edit tweets and removes some advertising, currently accounts for less than 8% of the business's sales.

Since taking over as Twitter's CEO on Friday, Musk has implemented several changes, including sacking the CEO and other top executives and altering how the homepage of the website appears to visitors who aren't logged in.

According to the Washington Post, he intends to reduce Twitter's employment by up to three-quarters.