Twitter is thinking about an organizational verification plan that doesn’t cost $1,000 a month. Over the weekend, Elon Musk said on Twitter that the company is working on a cheaper plan for small businesses, but didn’t give any details about the cost.
The Twitter owner said that the company is figuring out a new onboarding process to ensure organizations applying for verification are not involved in fraudulent activities.
Currently, brands need to spend $1,000 a month for verification to get a golden checkmark along with $50 per month for each affiliate account. For smaller organizations, this amount might be a significant spend just to maintain their presence on Twitter.
As always Musk didn’t give any information about the cost of the plan, what kind of companies might qualify for it, or when Twitter is planning to launch the new tier.
The social network has been pushing for paid verification for a while now. Especially, after it removed legacy checkmarks last month, causing many organizations to lose their verification status.
At the same time, Twitter started sending emails to various accounts stating that they will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations plans to advertise on the platform.
“Starting April 21, your @account must have a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations to continue running ads on Twitter. Business accounts spending in excess of $1000 per month already have gold checks or will soon, and they’ll continue to enjoy access to advertising without interruption at this time,” the company said in an email.
Organization verification is not limited to Twitter, though. Last week, Gmail launched Blue verified checkmarks to ensure a brand emailing users is authentic.