Twitter announced a subscription service on Saturday that includes a blue checkmark that is currently given to verified accounts.
The social media giant is offering the subscription for a monthly fee of $7.99, adding that users who “sign up now” can receive the blue checkmark “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow,” The Associated Press reported.
The blue checkmark was implemented shortly after the company began to gain popularity in 2008, helping to prevent users from impersonating high-profile celebrities.
The new subscription is available through the latest version of the Twitter for iOS app, according to The Verge.
Before the overhaul, Twitter had more than 423,000 verified accounts, according to the AP.
Elon Musk beginning layoffs at Twitter
The move comes two days after company CEO Elon Musk began laying off employees at Twitter. Approximately half of the company’s workforce — about 3,700 employees — were laid off on Friday, The New York Times reported.
According to state filings in California, Twitter laid off 784 workers in San Francisco, 106 employees in San Jose and 93 in Santa Monica, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday took the blame for the layoffs, according to the AP.
“I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly,” Dorsey tweeted. “I apologize for that.”
Musk originally floated the idea of charging users $20 per month for the blue check and extra features, but backtracked after an exchange with author Stephen King, who tweeted, “If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
“We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers,” Musk answered. “How about $8?”
The update Twitter made to the iOS version of its app does not mention verification as part of the new “blue check” system, the AP reported.
The app displays a “Blue looks good on you, enjoy your verified checkmark” pop-up when users sign up, but lacks the actual opt-in for displaying a “verified” label on a user’s profile, according to The Verge.
Here are some memorable photos of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk through the years.
2008: Tesla founder Elon Musk attends the launch party for the Tesla Roadster, the world’s first highway-capable all electric car available in the United States, at the Tesla Flagship Store on May 1, 2008, in Los Angeles.
2009: CEO Elon Musk (left) arrives at the Tesla UK launch on June 25, 2009, in London.
2010: Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger laugh during a news conference at Tesla Motors headquarters May 20, 2010, in Palo Alto, California.
2011: Talulah Riley and Elon Musk attend the 2011 Orange British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on February 13, 2011, in London.
2012: Director Bryn Mooser, executive producer Elon Musk, executive producer Olivia Wilde and director David Darg of the film "Baseball in the Time of Cholera" attend the "Help Wanted" Shorts Program during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival at the AMC Lowes Village on April 21, 2012, in New York City.
2013: CEO and CTO of SpaceX and CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla Motors Elon Musk participates in a discussion at the New York Times 2013 DealBook Conference in New York at the New York Times Building on November 12, 2013, in New York City.
2014: Actress Talulah Riley (left) and CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk attend the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter on March 2, 2014, in West Hollywood, California.
2015: Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during an event to launch the new Tesla Model X Crossover SUV on September 29, 2015, in Fremont, California.
2016: Elon Musk and actress Kate Hudson attend the 2016 InStyle and Warner Bros. 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 10, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California.
2017: Maye Musk (left) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attend the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California.
2018: Elon Musk and Grimes attend the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City.
2019: SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk (right) speaks with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine (center) while viewing the OctaWeb, part of the Merlin engine used for the Falcon rockets, at the SpaceX Headquarters, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in Hawthorne, California.
2020: SpaceX founder Elon Musk celebrates after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
2021: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Armin Laschet, CDU Federal Chairman and Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, talk during a tour of the plant of the future foundry of the Tesla Gigafactory on August 13, 2021, in Grünheide near Berlin, Germany.
