Twitter Blue is back, letting you buy a blue checkmark again

Twitter Blue is back, letting you buy a blue checkmark again

Would you pay for Twitter? | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Elon Musk’s $8-per-month Twitter Blue subscription with verification is officially available, and you’ll need a verified phone number to sign up.

In a thread on Twitter, the platform notes that Blue will cost $11 per month if you sign up on iOS and will grant you access to the ability to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos, reader mode, and, of course, the coveted blue checkmark. If you paid for the old $4.99 / $2.99 Blue package, then you’ll need to subscribe again to keep its benefits, while anyone who signed up on Apple at the old $7.99 per month price will be automatically renewed at $11 per month unless they cancel.

we’re baaaack! Twitter Blue is now available for $8/month on web or $11/month on iOS – we’ve made some upgrades and improvements pic.twitter.com/uRMuwCSElb

— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) December 12, 2022

The revamped Blue originally launched on November 9th but was put on hold around a day later after a wave of people used it to (somewhat) convincingly impersonate high-profile brands and accounts, despite the platform’s rules against doing so.

This time around, Twitter is relying on a lightly described review process, as well as the phone number verification requirement, to limit any “verified” hoaxing:

We’re committed to maintaining integrity of accounts on Twitter and making the platform a place people can join and engage safely. Only Twitter accounts created more than 90 days ago can sign up for Twitter Blue.

All Twitter Blue subscribers will be required to confirm their phone number as part of sign up.

Once subscribed to Twitter Blue, changes to your profile photo, display name, or username (@handle) will result in the loss of the blue checkmark until the account is validated as continuing to meet our requirements, and no further changes will be allowed during this review period. Learn more about checkmark requirements here.

The company says the current price point is a “limited time offer” on the signup page and lists several features coming soon. Those include the ability to “rocket to the top of replies,” post “longer videos,” and see around half the number of ads.

Twitter says anyone with an existing blue checkmark won’t lose it “at this time,” although this is something Musk says will happen in “a few months.” It does note, however, that users who change their display name or profile photo will lose their checkmark until their account is reviewed.