Twitter’s $8 ‘Blue’ feature to launch in India in a month

Much-talked about Twitter Blue Tick subscription, which is worth $7.99/per month in countries like the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, will be rolled out for India in less than a month. Twitter's new boss Elon Musk, who's on a mission mode to overhaul the microblogging platform from a loss-making company to -- as he puts it -- the most authentic source of information, and at the same time, profitable, has said India will, "hopefully", have the service in "less than a month".

There's no clarity if the price will remain the same for India, which is a big market for Twitter, or it'll be slashed as many people may not be able to pay $8/month (around ₹657 per month) for the 'Blue'.

A Twitter user, who was a Blue tick holder earlier, posted screenshots of an update he received on Twitter. "Starting today, we are adding great new features to Twitter Blue, and have more on the way soon. Get Twitter for $7.99/month if you sign up now. Your account will get a Blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow," Twitter said in its notification, while removing his Blue tick.

The update adds that other features such as fewer ads, the option to post longer videos and priority ranking for quality content will be rolled out soon. Notably, Twitter Blue, with verification, is already available on iOS in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. 

Another notification said the updated Twitter Blue feature will allow users to have a better news reading experience, and early access to select new features and extras like the option to choose app icons and add quick access to favourite destinations.

The company has not specified how long those videos are going to be. However, Elon Musk, replying to a Twitter user, said Twitter can allow 42-minute chunks at 1,080 resolution, now for new Blue subscribers, so people will be able to break up a longer video. "The 42 min limit should be fixed next month," he said, adding that Twitter will also add the ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending the absurdity of notepad screenshots.

According to Musk, Twitter needs to become, by far, the most accurate source of information about the world. "That’s our mission," he tweeted. On ensuring free speech on the platform, Musk said his commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following his plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.

In a reversal to his earlier claim of comedy "now" being "legal" on the platform, Musk said Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended.

His tweet came after some comedy accounts, including that of comedian Kathy Griffin, started a trend of replacing their names with "Elon Musk", much to the annoyance of the mega billionaire. Her account was later suspended, which angered many of her fraternity members.

"Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning.  This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue," said Musk. He said any name change, at all, will cause a temporary loss of the verified checkmark.

The move, however, didn't go down well with many users, who criticised him for making the U-turn.

Meanwhile, in a rather embarrassing development, Twitter is now calling back many of its former employees, who were fired last week as the company decided to slash the workforce by half and around 3,700 employees of the total 7,500 were let go via email.

Many employees are now being urged to join back as they are seen essential to implement some of features or changes the platform is undergoing. The company is reportedly telling them that they were fired in "error". Musk's entry into Twitter has already led to many top-level exits at the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.