Elon Musk’s Indian-origin advisor supports Twitter’s $8/month plan for blue tick accounts

Twitter has been undergoing frequent upgrades since the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, took over the company two weeks ago. The microblogging platform discontinued its ad-free articles featured for Blue subscribers and announced that it would charge $8/month from the verified account.

He outlined in a tweet how verified accounts will benefit users, including priority in replies, mentions, and & search to defeat spam/scams, the ability to post long video & audio, half as many ads, and much more. Soon after the post surfaced, the Twitter CEO faced severe criticism for his decision. However, Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-origin advisor, has supported the subscription service while pointing out several issues with the current verification system.

Sriram Krishnan Shared Multiple Tweets to Support His Contention

Krishnan shared a series of tweets claiming that the various criticisms about the paid verification are unreasonable. He noted four points to support his statement that subscriptions will lessen impersonation on the site and add more consistency to the social networking platform. First, he claims that using a credit card or mobile checkout will help increase friction, and anyone identified as impersonating will lose their money.

Krishnan said, "The current path on any social network is opaque and easily gamed. So many people should be verified (often impersonated) and aren't. And vice versa." Krishnan verified many "hacked blue check accounts" on Twitter, asking users to see replies to Musk's tweets.

"$8 and giving everyone (a checkmark) makes those (hacking) attacks less valuable," he added.

Krishnan acknowledged that there would be space for improvement in Twitter's plans. "But I'm excited for the first change in how verification works in social media in a very long time." Many users have opposed Twitter's subscription plan, but the social network is touting it as "giving power to the people." Twitter states, "Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow." Musk said the new plan would "empower the voice of the people," unlike the existing "lords & peasants system" that offers verification to only known personalities.

Reports say Musk will likely delay the plan's rollout until after the American midterms.

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