Twitter Blue: after the November disaster, the subscription returns with some new rules

From yesterday, December 12, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Twitter users will be able to subscribe again to the Twitter Blue service , which offers access to a rich package of perks and benefits.

Twitter Blue has existed – always limited to the aforementioned countries – since before Elon Musk bought the social network, but the billionaire had chosen to relaunch and renew it in the hope of increasing the company’s revenues. The first launch of the new version of Twitter Blue had disastrous results: among other things, the new version also includes the coveted blue verification check, which was once only offered to celebrities, or to companies and institutions judged worthy of protection. The new possibility of obtaining the blue check simply by paying 8 dollars was quickly abused by various trolls, who used it to impersonate companies and celebrities, in some cases causing serious economic damage.

In order to prevent incidents of this type from happening again, Twitter had therefore chosen to close the subscriptions, in order to take the time to find a solution. After several weeks, Twitter is therefore trying again.

The subscription always costs 8 dollars , which rises to 11 dollars if you subscribe from the iPhone application. There are some new rules:

• To subscribe to Twitter Blue, and receive the check, you must be registered on the social network for a minimum of 90 days.
• Users will also need to provide a valid phone number to match the account
• Subscriber accounts must be complete, i.e. have a name, profile photo and have posted something within the last 30 days
• They must not be misleading: for example, they cannot fraudulently replicate the logos, names and images of companies, politicians and celebrities. They also must not have posted spam.
• Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to change their profile photo, username and bio, but doing so will temporarily lose the blue check until their account is manually reverified by a moderator.

All these measures serve to avoid the frauds that had accompanied the launch of the first reissue of the season ticket .

In the future, Twitter could further revise the verification tick system, providing for different colors depending on the type of account: for example, companies and institutions could receive special colors, in order to avoid confusion between paid verified accounts and those that actually they play some role in the public interest.