Elon Musk turns memestar to defend $8 as Twitter ‘blue tick’ price

Elon Musk is vehemently defending his decision to charge $8 per month for a blue tick on Twitter. He has posted a number of tweets in support of the latest move to sell blue ticks to those who can afford it. In addition, he shared a few memes in his defence.

He has been posting tweets in his defence for a couple of days now. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” he posted earlier. He believes the subscription fee will give Twitter “a revenue stream to reward content creators” while the company won’t have to depend on advertisers.

He shared a meme where he can be seen in his Halloween costume, rejoicing for some reasons. “All for $8,” the picture says.

Musk has said that there will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians. In his latest posts, the world’s richest man said, “Being attacked by both right & left simultaneously is a good sign.”

“Twitter is simply the most interesting place on the Internet. That’s why you’re reading this tweet right now,” he added.

The Tesla CEO also shared a meme where people are happy to buy coffee at Starbucks for $8 but are whining when it comes to paying the same amount for a verification tick on Twitter. He then shared a photo that shows a sweatshirt being sold for $58.

Musk sealed his argument with two tweets. One says, “Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8.” The other says, “You get what you pay for”. Musk labelled it as a “spoiler alert”.

People voiced their disapproval of Musk's choice for a new Twitter version shortly after he had announced it. Musk's proposal to charge Twitter users to have their accounts verified swiftly sparked fury and astonishment among some seasoned users of the microblogging platform. Musk, meanwhile, was unaffected by the outcry.