Twitter Will Now Cost iPhone Users Money To Use?
Twitter (and Elon Musk) remain firmly planted in the national news spotlight. Most recently, eyes were on the social media platform after Apple threatened to pull the app from its App Store. And while that threat has passed, iPhone users are negatively impacted on another level.
Musk and Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, appeared to have ironed out many of their differences over a meeting at the tech giant’s headquarters. However, the presence of Twitter in Apple’s App Store is not Musk’s only concern. He is also unhappy about the commission Apple charges with each app sale.
The company levies a 30% commission on every purchase made through its app store. And unfortunately, app developers typically pass that cost on to the consumer by raising prices. Twitter is no exception.
This tiff has no impact on most regular Twitter users. After all, it is free unless you want some clout. The problem arises for anyone hoping to join the ranks of the blue checkmarks.
That’s right. Twitter Blue is making a comeback. Users willing to fork over $8/month get the nifty blue check, enhanced video upload abilities, and editing power.
However, it is a different story for iPhone users. They will have to pay a heftier monthly fee to obtain the previously elusive blue checkmark, which is disappointing news. Since in-app transactions for iPhone users go through the app store, they will absorb that 30% commission.
All iPhone users wishing to upgrade their Twitter accounts will have to pay $11 instead of the standard $8. According to NPR, “The pricing announcement follows sharp words from Musk leveled at Apple over its so-called ‘Apple tax,’ a longtime pain point for app developers and cause of concern for regulators around the world who have viewed the fee as excessive and financially damaging to Apple’s rivals.” Fortunately, Android users will not face the increased fee.
However, Android and iPhone users will all have to go through a new verification process. There is no word about what that vetting process will look like. But before Musk took over, Twitter did verify individual identities before issuing a blue checkmark.
Then, after Musk announced revamping the blue check, allowing anyone to purchase one, things got a bit crazy. Plenty of impersonators came out of the woodwork, happily paying the $8 fee. And no one was immune from their attacks.
So, after only two days, they suspended Twitter Blue pending some revisions. The social media giant is ready to roll the program out again. But many question whether or not Twitter can still do individual verification after losing at least half the staff.
The CEO of the cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security, Rachel Tobac, expressed her concerns to NPR. Tobac said, “With a reduced workforce, it remains to be seen if it will be possible to prevent fraud, impersonation and scams with their new identity verification methodology. Scammers will quickly determine how they can overwhelm or manipulate the identity verification system to get ‘authenticated’ as an entity that they are not.”
NPR reached out to Twitter to get its response to the Twitter Blue news. But they did not receive a response. Twitter no longer has a communications team.
