Musk to charge $8 for Twitter's blue check mark following backlash

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- New Twitter owner Elon Musk has renegotiated plans to charge verified users $19.99 a month, lowering the price to $8 for the coveted blue check mark, following backlash on the social media platform.

Musk announced the new price in a tweet on Tuesday.

"Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark is [expletive]," Musk tweeted. "Power to the people! Blue for $8/month."

Twitter's current subscription costs $4.99 a month and includes a blue check mark, which has become a status symbol for celebrities and influencers to show their accounts have been verified.

Twitter had considered taking away the blue check if verified users did not pay the higher $19.99 subscription price within 90 days, according to internal Twitter planning documents viewed by CNN.

The price was quickly lowered when word of the new charge sparked outrage among Twitter users, including author Stephen King.

"$20 a month to keep my blue check? "[Expletive], they should pay me," King, who has nearly seven million followers, tweeted Monday. "If that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron."

Musk responded to King's tweet with the new, renegotiated price.

"We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?" Musk tweeted.

Since buying Twitter last week for an estimated $44 billion, Musk has fired the platform's top executives and dissolved its board of directors.

On Tuesday, Musk revealed more details about his new $8 plan that includes priority in replies, mentions and search. Musk also touted the ability to post longer video and audio content, in addition to fewer ads.

One of Musk's financial backers, Binance founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao who put $500 million into the Twitter deal, supported the $8 plan.

"We think that's a great idea," Zhao told the Web Summit in Lisbon on Tuesday. "Anything that can reduce the bots."

"We want to be extremely supportive of free speech," Zhao said. "Free speech comes before the freedom of money."