Celebrated author Stephen King publicly criticised the prospect of paying for verification or the blue tick on Twitter, saying he would quit the social media platform if the plan is implemented.

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter last week, there have been rumours that the billionaire planned to introduce a fee for blue ticks on the social media platform.

Musk, the CEO of electric car manufacturing company Tesla, completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter last week and dismissed Twitter's previous chief, Parag Agrawal, and a number of other top officials soon after.

On Sunday, The Verge reported that Musk was planning to charge $20 per month for verified users to allow them to retain the coveted blue checkmark, denoting that they are the real accounts of celebrities, journalists, politicians, and other public figures.

At present, the Twitter Blue service costs $5 monthly. The report also said Musk planned to expand its features to include verifying users' identities.

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Even though Musk did not comment on the report, he tweeted on Sunday that the whole verification process on the platform was being revamped.

Responding to the news, acclaimed horror author Stephen King, who has 6.8 million followers on Twitter, said: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me.”

When a user @DJKanzas Pronoun: Dude (@djohnstonpax) remarked that King could afford to pay the amount, King said: “It ain't the money, it's the principal of the thing.”

He added that if the plan was implemented, “I'm gone like Enron." Enron that King was referring to was an American energy company, which collapsed in 2001 after hiding debt and toxic assets from auditors.

Responding to King's tweet, Elon Musk said, "We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?"

Musk went on to add that he will explain the rationalise behind charging a fee before any such change is made. He also termed it the "only way to defeat the bots & trolls".

Earlier, comedian and actor Kathy Burke had tweeted: “I give my all to this hell site for FREE…Don’t need the poxy thing anyway.”

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(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)

First Published:Nov 1, 2022 1:19 PM IST