Gary Zhou 
Elon Musk said Twitter would remove any accounts involved in deception “at least temporarily” after the company launched its $8 per month verification program on Wednesday following the conclusion of Tuesday’s Senate and Gubernatorial elections.
In a Spaces presentation labeled “Elon Q&A: Advertising and the Future” on Wednesday, Musk said any accounts actively involved in impersonation or deception in any form would be suspended temporarily. At the same time, the company would continue to collect its $7.99 subscription fee for the Twitter Blue membership.
Musk felt that consistently handed-down penalties, including restricting access to accounts and not refunding the $7.99 Twitter Blue fee, would stop users from participating in deception.
Musk indicated that Twitter would continue to collect the membership fee, even if accounts continued to be suspended. Twitter would collect the $8 from accounts violating Twitter’s new rules “all day long,” Musk said in the Spaces presentation.
The $7.99 fee is Musk’s sole strategy for defeating the platform’s population of spam/scam accounts. During the Twitter Spaces presentation on Wednesday, Musk said he did not see any apparent solution besides making accounts pay for verification.
Ironically, Musk continues to combat the issue that nearly ended his acquisition of Twitter earlier this year. After agreeing to terms with Twitter on a $44 billion buyout, Musk attempted to back out of the deal due to a suspected high concentration of bot accounts. However, Musk and his legal team could not prove this suspicion, which ultimately backed him into the deal.
Now that Musk is running Twitter, major changes are starting to take place. An influx of blue “Verified” checkmarks appeared on any account that subscribed to Twitter Blue, the first step in Musk’s Master Plan to defeat spam accounts.
There is controversy surrounding the newfound restriction on Twitter accounts after Kathie Griffin’s account donned Musk’s profile picture and name, despite the actress’s Twitter handle still being @KathieGriffin.
Musk, who has routinely used Twitter to share information on his companies and share memes, has been adamant that saving the platform is crucial for the protection of free speech. However, the Tesla, SpaceX, and now Twitter frontman is setting the record straight by striking the hammer early, and perhaps often.
