Elon Musk 'baaaack' With Twitter Blue Subscription Service

(RTTNews) - Elon Musk's Twitter has relaunched its paid premium subscription service 'Twitter Blue,' after holding a while for updating and verification of fake accounts.

New subscriptions to Twitter Blue are currently available on the web only in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., with plans to expand.

Twitter said it is piloting a new service called Twitter Blue for Business, which is a service for business entities that adds a gold checkmark to official business accounts.

Earlier, the company said it will begin a grey checkmark for government and multilateral accounts later in the week.

After taking Twitter private in a $44 billion acquisition in October, Musk in mid-November said that the Twitter Blue upgraded subscription service would be relaunched on November 29.

However, after a wave of fake verified accounts flooded the platform, Musk stated that he was holding off relaunching Blue Verified until there was high confidence in stopping impersonation. He also said that Twitter would probably use different color checks for organizations than individuals.

As per the website, Twitter Blue is an opt-in, paid subscription that adds a blue checkmark to one's account and offers early access to select features, like Edit Tweet.

In a tweet, the company said, "we're baaaack! Twitter Blue is now available for $8/month on the web or $11/month on iOS - we've made some upgrades and improvements."

Further, in a series of tweets, the social media app said the users' account must be at least 90 days old and have a confirmed phone number in order to subscribe to Twitter Blue.

Since Monday, one who subscribes Twitter Blue account will get access to subscriber-only features including Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads, reader mode, and a blue checkmark.

All Twitter Blue features will be available immediately, but a blue checkmark will be given after a review ensuring that the subscribed accounts meet all requirements.

Soon, subscribers with the blue checkmark will get priority ranking in searches, mentions, and replies to help lower the visibility of scams, spam, and bots, the company said.

The microblogging and social networking service noted that until now, Twitter used the blue checkmark to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements.

But the relaunched blue checkmark may mean either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria, i. e., active and authentic, or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue.

The company noted that Twitter Blue subscribers who joined for $7.99 on iOS will be notified by Apple that their subscription will be automatically renewed for $11/month unless they choose to cancel the service.

Those who initially subscribed on iOS for $2.99 or $4.99/month will need to upgrade their subscription to $8/month on the web or $11/month on iOS or lose their subscription.