Turkey’s President Says He May Discuss Crude Price Check with Musk on Twitter
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he may negotiate with Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk to avoid paying the $8 (roughly Rs. 660) monthly fee for the “verified” badge.
After buying Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,63,500 crore) last week, Musk said the company will charge $8 a month for its Blue service, which includes the coveted blue check mark.
In an interview with Turkish broadcaster ATV on Wednesday, Erdoğan said he might talk to Musk and discuss the case.
“It may be different for us,” Erdoğan said, when asked about the new green check payment. “We can do diplomacy with him,” he added jokingly.
A blue tick next to a person’s username on the social media platform means that Twitter has verified that the account belongs to the person or company they want. Twitter is currently free for most users.
Billionaire Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last week.
More than 80 percent of Twitter users who participated in a recent poll said they would not pay for a test mark. Another 10 percent said they were willing to pay $5 (about Rs. 410) a month.
Musk said on Tuesday that blue-tagged subscribers will receive relevant answers, mentions and searches and will be able to post longer videos and audios. They would see ads that are part of many.
He also offered subscribers paywall bypass from “publishers who are willing to work with us.”
Amid speculation that Twitter might start charging verified users a monthly fee of $20 (roughly Rs. 1,700) for green ticks, best-selling author Stephen King tweeted: “If that goes live, I’m gone like Enron.”
Separately, S&P Global Ratings downgraded Twitter to B- on a “significant” increase in credit following the acquisition.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
