Twitter would lose its “magic” if it charged for verification, says ex-executive.
Ex-executive weighs in on Twitter verification saga
Brandon Borrman remarked the social media giant – which was finally purchased by Elon Musk, 50, last week for $44 billion – would be less great as he questioned if the move to paying for the blue tick monthly was “the fairest way”.
The ex-executive – who moved from the microblogging site to Mozilla in 2021- told BBC News: “If charging for the blue tick was the fairest way to do it, I think Twitter probably would have done it a while ago.”
Brandon wondered how it would actually create an “equal playing field” after the fee could lead to people seeing fewer ads on their timelines.
He said: “It’s great for people who have money and want to spend money on having their voice amplified. $8 might seem like nothing to a lot of people – but it’s quite substantial for most people around the world.”
Brandon admitted being glad no longer to be working at the site and shared that a lot of current employees – who had not been cleared out by the Tesla founder during his first few days in the office – were in “wait and see’ mode” before considering anything.
He said: “Elon obviously has a particular way he likes to manage and approach things that’s quite different from the way Twitter has been managed in the past”
“There’s a lot of people who are in ‘wait-and-see’ mode.”
Elon has become notable in the past week for testing out ideas for diversifying Twitter’s revenue streams on the site itself. During an exchange with horror writer Stephen King – who expressed his lack of enthusiasm for the idea – Elon tweeted: “We need to pay the bills somehow!”
The plea was in response to the ‘Misery’ author writing to his followers: “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
