Twitter may soon charge brands $1000 to keep gold checkmark

Twitter is considering charging businesses and brands $1,000 to keep gold verification ticks on the platform, according to a new report from The Information(Opens in a new window) unveiled on Friday afternoon. In internal documents obtained by the outlet, Twitter would also charge an additional $50 for each connected account. For companies that want to remain verified, $12,000 a year is a costly change to what was previously a free tool designed to prevent malicious actors from being impersonated.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, was the first to point out this price change(Opens in a new window) and his tweets match The Information’s report. There is no date for this move as pricing is still finalized and subject to change. Before Musk started charging users $8/month for Twitter Blue, Musk was originally planning a $19.99/month subscription before lowering the price after backlash, so there’s precedent for a price change.

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The Gold Tick is a new addition to Twitter that launched in December as “Verified for Organizations” (formerly Blue for Business). This was part of a site-wide relaunch of Twitter Blue, which after its disastrous initial launch in November had sidelined and ousted many brands from the platform due to impersonation concerns. The initial launch of Twitter Blue allowed anyone willing to pay $8 to get verified and didn’t require any identity checks, opening the door for many users to tweet seemingly on behalf of corporations and government officials.

Twitter did not officially announce the policy and did not immediately respond to Mashable’s request for comment. If the plan goes through, it wouldn’t be a surprising move for the platform given that Elon Musk took over last year. Musk stated before buying Twitter that he would look for ways to monetize the app. Taking a concept meant to ensure validity and charging a stack for it fits Musk’s pattern. Musk has attempted to boost revenue in other ways, including mass layoffs, banning third-party APIs because they don’t bring in ad revenue, and potentially introducing a costly ad-free Twitter Blue subscription tier.

Additionally, Musk has stated that Twitter is trying to compensate creators through features like coins and a creator fund. Right now, however, Musk may not be in the financial position to deliver on his promises. Maybe the $1000 a month from companies will help.