Twitter is desperately attempting to increase advertising spend after rebranding its name to X. To boost its profits, Elon Musk’s X Corp is reportedly effectively linking business verification to ad spend. Since Elon Musk purchased the website in October 2022 and made a tick mark available for purchase for only $8 per month, the tick mark badge system has generated criticism.
According to the Wall Street Journal, any business that hasn’t spent at least $1,000 on ads over the past month or at least $6,000 over the preceding 180 days will likely lose its yellow tick mark. Under Musk, these marks were given away free to some of the biggest brands on the platform after significant issues arose.
According to reports, the policy will go into effect on August 7 and X will give users up to 50% off of certain types of ads, including those that appear above videos under the “explore” tab.
After Tony La Russa, a baseball icon, sued Twitter in 2009 over a fake account, the social media platform instituted its verification system. A user’s identity had been verified by Twitter and did not previously subject to payment if they had a verified tick mark.
But when Musk bought the site, all of it was forgotten. By April, Musk had removed the majority of “legacy” tick marks, though he did seem to give them back to users who did not previously want them. One person who has received the digital dunce camp repeatedly, but who keeps changing his user name to make it go away, is the comedy account Dril.
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Today, A blue “verification” badge on Twitter costs $8 per month for individuals, but a gold badge for companies and media outlets reportedly costs $1,000.
The majority of Twitter’s income still comes from advertising, even though the billionaire recently revealed that it was down by around 50 percent since he purchased the company, now known as X. Musk wants to redesign the website with X and turn it into an “everything app” that can handle things like payments. Many people have compared Musk’s plans to WeChat, a messaging program that also allows payments, which is popular in China.
In June, Musk installed Linda Yaccarino, a veteran of the TV industry, as Twitter’s new CEO. This move was viewed by many as a way to win back advertisers.
Businesses regard verification to be important since it lets users know that the account they are interacting with is genuine.
Threatening to remove verified checkmarks is a risky move given the proliferation of “Twitter alternatives” like Threads and Bluesky and the apparent eagerness for consumers to leave the platform, as seen by the fact that Threads reached 100 million registrations in just five days. However, it’s not like other efforts to raise money, like increasing API pricing, have been especially effective either. Let’s see whether it works, Cotton. It’s a risky move.
