Why chafe at $8 for 'free speech' when okay paying $58 for a sweatshirt, wonders Elon Musk

New Delhi: Twitter’s new owner billionaire Elon Musk has come up with hilarious memes to defend his decision to charge $8 for a blue tick for a month on the microblogging site.

Taking to Twitter, he shared a post featuring a Periwinkle Supporter Crew Sweatshirt which is priced at $58, wondering why people were okay shelling out money for these things but had an issue with a nominal fee of $8 for Twitter fees.

🤔 pic.twitter.com/XuJdfMTTi1

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022

In another post, he shared a meme that suggested he was charging $8 per month for free speech, which was only fair, and also implied that people could still use Twitter for free, though sans the additional benefits.

“$8 for Twitter verification? So much for free speech,” the meme read.

“You can still use Twitter for free, just without the benefits,” read another meme.

pic.twitter.com/BYOBGBHOUA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022

In yet another tweet, he wrote, “you get what you pay for” and labelled it as a “spoiler alert” for Twitterati.

you get what you pay for

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2022

Musk had announced that the verification blue tick in front of a user’s name that authenticates the account will be charged $8 per month, prompting outrage and disbelief among some longtime users.

Musk, the world’s richest person, acquired Twitter in a whopping $44 billion deal on October 27.

He also fired the social media company’s four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde.

“Power to the people! Blue for USD 8 per month,” he had tweeted, adding that the price is adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity.

With that price, he said, users will also get priority in replies, mentions, and searches, which he said is essential to defeating spam/scams, as well as the ability to post long video and audio, half as many ads, and paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the social media company.

Musk, 51, said the monthly payments from users for the blue tick “will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators”.

There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians, he further said.

With inputs from agencies

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