How About $8? Elon Musk Negotiates Twitter Blue-Tick Price With Stephen King, Says 'Will Explain In Longer Form'

‘We need to pay the bills somehow!’ Musk tweeted in response to King’s warning to leave the platform.

Stephen King threatened to leave Twitter if the platform indeed asks users for $20 per month for the verification badge. ( Image Source :Getty )

Elon Musk’s plan to charge Twitter users $19.99 per month to keep their blue-tick verification badges has the Twitterati up in arms. It all started as Musk, soon after the takeover, tweeted that Twitter’s verification process “is being revamped” right now. This was followed by media reports, based on the company’s internal correspondence, suggesting that Twitter will charge users $19.99 for the Twitter Blue badge instead of the current price of $4.99 per month. While several Twitter users expressed their disgust and concern on the platform, celebrated horror writer Stephen King made his feelings clear in his own inimitable style.

King — the award-winning author known for titles such as “It”, “Pet Semetary”, “The Green Mile”, and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” — tweeted on October 31, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”

To this, Musk responded by saying, “We need to pay the bill somehow!” In a mood to negotiate, Musk floated, “How about $8?” He said that the microblogging platform can’t “rely entirely” on advertisers.

We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

In a follow-up reply, Musk clarified that the reported price hike is still under planning. He said he would explain the rationale in “longer form” before the updated price plan is implemented. 

Musk added that this is the only way to defeat bots and trolls. 

I will explain the rationale in longer form before this is implemented. It is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Musk has now become the ‘sole director of Twitter’ after dissolving the company’s board of directors. According to a US SEC filing, all previous members of Twitter's board, including former CEO Parag Agrawal and former chairman Bret Taylor, are no longer directors "in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement". However, Musk clarified his stance, saying that the move is ‘just temporary’.