Posted on November 6, 2022
Elon Musk has taken charge of Twitter and he is ruffling the feathers of the Twitterati. To increase profits for the struggling social network, Musk is instituting a monthly fee of $8 to have a verified blue mark next to your Twitter account.
The fee was initially rumored to be $20 but Musk set it to $8 during a Twitter conversation with Stephen King. King said he would not pay the fee. He argued that Twitter should pay him. King’s argument is logical as he is paid highly for his writing which he contributes freely on Twitter.
King tweeted on October 31st that he would not pay $20 to keep his blue check. He wrote, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
Elon Musk countered on Twitter with an $8 offer: “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
King later compared Musk to Tom Sawyer from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. King says, “Tom cons his friends into doing the chore for him, and getting them to pay for the privilege. That’s what Musk wants to do with Twitter.”
Musk makes me think of Tom Sawyer, who is given the job of whitewashing a fence as punishment. Tom cons his friends into doing the chore for him, and getting them to pay for the privilege. That’s what Musk wants to do with Twitter. No, no, no.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 3, 2022
King has been on Twitter for years and his account is already known to everyone so he won’t need the blue check. In the early days Twitter benefitted from celebrities joining Twitter. It could hurt the popularity of the platform if they started leaving. Hopefully, King will remain even if his blue check does not.
