SAN FRANCISCO - Twitter owner Elon Musk was set to relaunch a subscription service after a first attempt saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers and created doubt on the site's future.
The first try last month came just 10 days after Musk's $44-billion takeover of the influential platform and a mass round of layoffs that saw company staff levels halved, including teams of workers moderating content.
The relaunch of Twitter Blue comes as the Tesla and SpaceX owner has stepped up his tweets endorsing right-wing causes, including against the use of gender-neutral pronouns and the US government’s response to Covid-19.
READ: On-again, off-again Twitter subscription service to be relaunched
The first rollout of the subscription plan caused an uproar when many fake accounts popped up pretending to be celebrities or companies and Musk's team was forced to swiftly suspend the rollout.
This time, the company said that subscribers would be required to be reviewed by Twitter before receiving the coveted blue check mark.
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The checkmark will become gold for businesses and, later in the week, gray for government organisations, it added.
A blue checkmark on an account, which indicates it has been verified by Twitter, was previously free but reserved for organisations and public figures in an attempt to avoid impersonation and misinformation.
In the US relaunch, the Twitter Blue subscription service will cost $8 per month for users accessing Twitter on the web and $11 for those signing up on an Apple device.