Elon Musk Defends Twitter's Subscription-Only Blue Check-Marks as Fair for All Users

Elon Musk responded to William Shatner's criticism of Twitter's plan to revoke legacy blue check-marks and force users to pay for the privilege, claiming that the subscription-based verification program is about fairness, not revenue. Musk previously defended the paid-verification system by saying, "we need to pay the bills somehow!" After April 1, 2023, the only individual Twitter users who will have verified blue check-marks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which in the U.S. costs $8/month via the web and $11/month through in-app payment on iOS and Android.