Twitter Blue to cost up to Rs 900 per month in India

Twitter users in India will have to shell out Rs 900 per month for the blue tick mark on the mobile app, according to an update from the microblogging platform on Thursday. Twitter Blue has been priced at Rs 650 per month for web users.

Twitter has also rolled out an annual plan for Rs 6,800 for users on the web.

"Blue subscribers with a verified phone number will get a blue checkmark once approved," Twitter said.

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Last year, Twitter CEO Elon Musk had announced that Twitter Blue would cost $8 (about Rs 660) per month, but it would be priced differently for various markets.

Twitter also said it would soon prioritise tweets from verified users. It will also continue showing advertisements to Blue subscribers but it will be 50% less than ads for general users. Twitter Blue subscribers will also get to edit their tweets up to five times within 30 minutes, upload longer and full high-definition videos, and link profile pictures to NFTs owned by the user.

"Subscription plans are prepaid, non-refundable (unless required by law), and automatically renew at the end of each subscription period unless the subscription is cancelled following the cancellation procedures," Twitter said.

It was recently reported that the social media firm was planning to lay off 50 employees in its product division. 

Twitter has already reduced its workforce by more than 50% in a bid to trim costs, after Elon Musk closed the $44-billion acquisition deal. Several employees have also quit after Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

After taking ownership of the social media company, Musk has tried to reduce the firm’s expenses and has been exploring new avenues to generate revenue, including its verified subscription service Twitter Blue. In the past, Twitter had relied mainly on advertising revenue. However, it is experiencing a sharp downturn in ad revenue. 

Twitter’s fourth quarter revenue fell about 35% year-over-year to $1.025 billion, The Information reported on Wednesday.

(Background information has been added to this PTI copy for context.)