Twitter Should Check "This Miscommunication": Minister On Blue Tick 'Fee'

Twitter is abuzz with reports that users will have to shell out a $ 20 fee for the 'blue tick', which authenticates the identity of the account holder, and a failure to pay the amount will result in the coveted status being withdrawn.

Refuting the reports, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar told ANI, "I do not think this is true. This is a challenge for Twitter. They need to see how this miscommunication is being circulated on the platform. I do not think such reports are true."

According to media reports, Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, is planning to charge users $ 19.99 (over Rs 1600) for the new Twitter Blue subscription that brings extra features like edit and undo tweets.

Under the current plan, verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark. Employees working on the project were told that they need to meet a deadline of November 7 to launch the feature or they will be fired.

The particular report comes a day after Mr Musk in a tweet mentioned that Twitter will revise its user verification process. However, he did not any detail related to the charges.

"Whole verification process is being revamped right now", he tweeted.

The Twitter Blue subscription launched widely almost a year ago as a way to view ad-free articles from some publishers and make other tweaks to the app, such as a different color home screen icon.

In April, Twitter accepted Mr Musk's proposal to buy and take the social media service private.

However, Mr Musk soon began sowing doubt about his intentions to follow through with the agreement, alleging that the company failed to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts on the service.

In July, in a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk who had long been showing his interest to buy Twitter terminated the deal. The Tesla CEO did so by alleging that Twitter violated their mutual purchase agreement by misrepresenting the number of spam and fake bot accounts on its platform.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)