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Government accounts could be allowed to keep their blue ticks on Twitter without having to pay a proposed $8 monthly fee, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg.
Many governments around the world have hundreds of verified Twitter accounts across numerous departments, and paying for all those accounts to stay verified could prove expensive, possibly placing an additional — admittedly small — burden on taxpayers.
Under the plans reported by Bloomberg, however, governments — as well as accounts in regions from which Twitter cannot accept payments thanks to sanctions — would be exempt from fees.
Some verified users referred to as "Very Important Tweeters" may be on the US Treasury's list of sanctioned individuals, the New York Times reported, making it illegal for Twitter to accept money from them, and likely exempting them from verification charges.
Elon Musk's plan to let anybody have the verification symbol for payment is expected to come into action next week. However, many have questioned the logic of forcing public figures to pay, complaining that it may become difficult to distinguish official accounts from fake ones.
Author Stephen King's vociferous complaints have seemingly prompted Musk to lower the price from $20.
On Tuesday, Musk suggested that famous people would have "a secondary tag below the name," as is already the case for politicians, many of whom have tags listing their political role.
Musk later argued with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York after she mocked the idea of "a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan."
Musk replied by telling her "now pay $8" before posting a series of memes defending the controversial fee.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022
White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Wednesday that the Biden administration hadn't yet decided whether to pay if verification charges come in, adding: "I don't believe it's an issue that made it to the president's desk yet."
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, also said that he wanted to discuss the fee with Musk, to try and avoid paying.
The verification fee is one of Musk's many plans to change things up at the company. He has already identified thousands of Twitter employees to be fired, accounting for half the workforce, sources told Insider's Kali Hays.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
