Twitter, now owned by billionaire Elon Musk, could start selling blue verification badges for user profiles as early as next week as part of the company's revamped mission to suppress fake accounts and tap into additional revenue streams, according to Bloomberg News.
Earlier this week, Musk hinted of verification badges being part of an $8-per-month subscription package; and according to Bloomberg, that program could launch Monday.
Bloomberg also notes, through an anonymous source, that users who already possess blue-badge verification will have a "multi-month" grace period to formally opt into the new subscription model — before being at risk of losing their profile checkmark.
President Joe Biden (@POTUS) and the White House (@WhiteHouse) have separate, high-profile accounts with Twitter.
However, as of Wednesday, Biden officials have yet to confirm whether the White House or commander-in-chief will participate in Twitter's subscription service.
"I don't believe [blue-badge verification is] an issue that made it to the president's desk yet — not a conversation that the president is aware of," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
"That's something ... that we need to talk to the president about," added Jean-Pierre.
During the same press briefing, Jean-Pierre reportedly sidestepped a question about Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter — and what impact it might have with American politics, moving forward.
Musk maintains that new Twitter will be a haven for both freedom of speech and expression.
Along those lines, as Newsmax chronicled last week, after formally taking ownership, Musk declared the Twitter "bird is freed" and "anyone suspended for minor and dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail."
Later on, Musk modified the previous statement a bit, by teasing the formation of a content moderation council with "widely diverse viewpoints."
"No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes," Musk clarified.
According to January 2022 data from Statista.com, Twitter ranked as the world's 15th biggest social media platform — trailing the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Twitter also lagged behind Telegram, Pinterest, and Reddit — three platforms which garner considerably less media attention than Twitter.