By Charles Passy
Others also refusing to fork over the monthly charge include the K-Pop supergroup BTS and actress and singer Bette Midler
Actress and activist Alyssa Milano is making her thoughts known about paying $8 a month for Twitter’s blue-checkmark verification program. And let’s just say she’s not a fan of forking over the money.
This week, Twitter ended its policy of giving users a free ride for such verification. The company has touted additional benefits of maintaining the blue checkmark (or signing up for it in the first place), noting that users will have the ability to edit tweets and write longer posts and will see fewer ads, among other perks.
But the program is still very much about verification — as in providing proof to fellow Twitter users that you are who you say you are.
Milano is far from the only boldfaced name to complain about the $8 fee. Others who have declined to pay range from the K-Pop group BTS to actress and singer Bette Midler.
LeBron James was similarly disinterested in paying the eight bucks, but Twitter owner Elon Musk has apparently agreed to let him and a few others slide, according to published reports. Musk himself has tweeted that he’s “paying for a few personally.”
There’s been some pushback in the case of Milano and other celebrities, with many saying such folks are overly entitled and should just pony up. Indeed, “pay the $8” has become something of an overnight buzz phrase.
Still, independent journalist Ed Krassenstein called the attacks on Milano “out of line,” saying some celebrities may not like Musk and paying the $8 “goes against everything they believe in.”
Some are seeing an amusing link between the new $8 fee and the SpaceX explosion, which has resulted in a messy dust cloud over Texas. As one Twitter user suggested, maybe Musk needs all that Twitter money to cover his losses over the spaceship mishap.
-Charles Passy
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04-21-23 1706ET
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