Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk has issued his first ultimatum to his employees to launch a new paid certification service before the deadline, or else they will go out.
Caption: Twitter subscription service Twitter Blue will increase the price
According to sources familiar with the matter and internal Twitter communications, Elon Musk has asked for Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service of $4.99 a month, to be adjusted to a more expensive subscription service that can authenticate users. Twitter plans to charge $19.99 a month for the new Twitter Blue subscription, though that price is subject to change. On Sunday, local time, employees working on the project were told they had to meet the Nov. 7 deadline to roll out the feature or be fired.
Elon Musk had been clear in the months leading up to the Twitter acquisition that he wanted to change the way Twitter authenticates accounts and handles bot accounts. He is also actively seeking to increase subscription revenue to half of the company’s total revenue. On Sunday, he tweeted: “The entire certification process is undergoing a major overhaul.” A Twitter spokesman was not available for comment.
