Twitter rolls out $8/month blue tick verification service for Apple users
Live MintTwitter has rolled out the $8 verification service for selective iOS users as new owner Elon Musk works to overhaul the platform’s verification system just ahead of the US midterm elections. The company said the subscribers of Twitter Blue will receive fewer ads, could post long videos, and to get priority ranking for quality content. President Joe Biden’s @POTUS account, for example, says in gray letters it belongs to a “United States government official.” The announcement comes a day after Twitter began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies are pausing advertising on the platform as a cautious corporate world waits to see how it will operate under its new owner. That could hurt companies’ brands if their U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday urged Musk to “ensure human rights are central to the management of Twitter.” In an open letter, Türk said reports that the company’s whole human rights team and much of the ethical AI team were laid off was not “an encouraging start.”