Got a Twitter blue checkmark? If you want to keep it, it’ll cost you $8 a month

If you’ve got a blue checkmark next to your name on Twitter, that’s supposed to verify that you are who you say you are. But that checkmark will soon cost you eight dollars a month. This is the latest edict from Elon Musk who’s now running things after paying US$44 billion for the place.

Musk says that subscribing to a blue checkmark will have priority in replies and searchers. You’ll also see half as many ads. “Free the bird!” tweeted Musk, calling the current verification method a “lords and peasants system.”

Eight bucks a month is better than the $20 that was originally floated, but people are still very, very pissed. Won’t only “lords” have these perks?

A blue checkmark isn’t a status symbol. It’s assurance that people are who they say they are. If this system comes in–and it’s inevitable–it’s going to make reliable sources harder to identify and will open the field for trolls and impersonators.

I hate it.