Twitter could also charge extra to add badges to every account affiliated with the brand as part of its latest money-making scheme.
Twitter wants to cash in on businesses on the platform by charging them $1,000 per month to keep their gold checkmarks, according to a report from The Information. As noted by The Information, brands who don’t pay the $1,000 per month fee will lose their gold badges, although it’s unclear when that will happen.
Internal messages viewed by the outlet also reveal that Twitter’s looking to tack on an extra $50 per month charge to add badges to each account affiliated with the business. This aligns with a screenshot posted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, which shows what appears to be an email between Twitter product manager Evan Jones and an unnamed business.
“As an early access subscriber, you’ll get a gold checkmark for your organization and affiliation badges for its associates,” the email reads. “If you’d like to subscribe, Verified for Organizations is $1,000 per month, and $50 per additional affiliated handle per month with one month of free affiliations.”
Twitter rolled out gold badges ahead of its Verification for Organizations program (formerly called Blue for Business), which allows companies to “verify and distinguish themselves on Twitter.” It also lets companies add badges showing miniature versions of their Twitter profile pictures to accounts belonging to employees, executives, and anyone else associated with the brand, just like the tiny Twitter logo on Twitter product manager Esther Crawford’s profile.
Navarra later followed up with another screenshot of a direct message between another business and product manager at Twitter, who once again confirms the $1,000 per month rate. Twitter still hasn’t officially revealed any pricing information for its Verification for Organization subscription and started offering early access to the program last month. The company didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment, as the company no longer has a communications team.
The pricey subscription is just one of the many changes CEO Elon Musk has implemented in an attempt to boost revenue and chip away at Twitter’s $12.5 billion debt. In addition to mass layoffs, Musk started charging users $8 per month for a blue checkmark, and will soon start forcing developers to pay for access to Twitter’s API after unceremoniously kicking their apps off the platform last month.
