(Washington) Users with a large number of subscribers on user certification.
Before the takeover of the social network by the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, the blue hook was free, but reserved for notorious accounts. It thus made it possible to authenticate the accounts of political and media personalities, institutions and journalists.
Elon Musk, considering this system unfair for non-famous users, made blue brackets accessible to everyone, but paid (via subscriptions), thus depriving thousands of accounts of this attribute.
Late Wednesday, some users were surprised, even angry, to see that their blue check mark had been restored.
A message from X explained that they had received free subscriptions as an “influential member” of the network. The California-based company added that it “reserves the right to cancel the free subscription at its sole discretion.”
Elon Musk indicated last week that “in the future, all X accounts with more than 2,500 authenticated subscribers will benefit from Premium features for free and accounts with more than 5,000 subscribers will benefit from Premium + features for free.”
Since the end of 2023, X users have had the choice between three plans: Basic, Premium and Premium+, at US$3, US$8 and US$16 per month respectively. The cheapest option includes basic editing tools and two-factor authentication.
Premium also includes access to tools for creators (which allow you to be paid), the famous blue hook and access to Grok, X’s artificial intelligence chatbot. Premium+ subscribers no longer see advertisements and their messages are more likely to be read.
Some users saw this unexpected gift as a cry for help from Musk.
“Pay 8 dollars? I’m kidding. Help me. But don’t talk too freely about me or my rotten Tower of Babel,” joked actor Jeffrey Wright on X, who received an unsolicited blue check.
Since the billionaire bought Twitter for US$44 billion at the end of 2022, the social network’s advertising business, crucial to its survival, has collapsed. Because brands appreciate neither erratic governance nor the weakening of content moderation.
On Tuesday, X named band veteran Kylie McRoberts as head of security, in a bid to turn around advertising revenue.