Elon Musk announces changes coming to Twitter Blue

Elon Musk has once again found himself in hot water after announcing new features to Twitter Blue. The multi-billionaire has announced an important change to the “For Now” tab on Twitter and a new guideline on who can vote on the microblogging platform.

Musk has announced that “For You” on Twitter will only show tweets from verified handles. For those who are unaware, “For You” shows tweets from people you do not follow. In other words, it is Twitter recommending interesting tweets based on your likes and interests. Currently, verified and non-verified users are eligible to appear on the For You page, which the company also calls an algorithmic timeline. However, this will change, as Musk confirmed, “Starting April 15, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.”

Musk has also announced that those without a Twitter Blue subscription cannot participate in Twitter Polls starting April 15. The chief of Twitter believes these changes are “the only realistic way” to address the bot problems on Twitter. However, in the same tweet, he also clarified that “it’s ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service & don’t impersonate a human.”

That said, it’s ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service & don’t impersonate a human

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2023

While Musk seems to be making it look like his platform is doing everything it can to crack down on bot accounts, critics are saying that these changes are nothing but one of the clever ways to bring more people into paying for using Twitter. Musk paid $44 billion to purchase Twitter, while the company’s actual value, as per Musk himself, is $20 billion. Therefore, it isn’t too surprising to see Musk trying hard to reach the break-even point or become profitable with his Twitter purchase.

The Blue subscription currently starts at $8 a month for those who get it using Twitter Blue. If you purchase it using Twitter for Android or iOS, you will have to pay a monthly fee of $11 to get the subscription.