!["[Expletive] that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron," King wrote in response to Twitter's plans to charge users for blue check marks.](https://media.newscentermaine.com/assets/NCM/images/6efd53a0-0af1-411b-ad28-aa58710d7b5e/6efd53a0-0af1-411b-ad28-aa58710d7b5e_1920x1080.jpg)
WASHINGTON — Elon Musk is adamant about changing the process surrounding Twitter's iconic blue check mark, and Maine's most famous author isn't a fan.
Musk, the world's richest man and owner of the social media platform, tweeted on Tuesday that users would have to pay $8 a month if they wanted to keep the verification checkmark in the future. He had initially proposed the idea of a $20 monthly fee for Twitter's verification.
Musk's announcement incorporates verified accounts into Twitter Blue, the social media platform's premium subscription service. The fee before Musk's takeover was $4.99 and included the ability to edit tweets and post long videos.
Twitter has historically used the blue check mark to verify higher-profile accounts, including Musk’s so that other users know it’s really them. It currently doesn't cost anything.
Stephen King, who has been active on Twitter since 2013, took to the app on Monday to share his thoughts on these reports, writing, "$20 a month to keep my blue check? [Expletive] that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron."
Another Twitter user, @djohnstonpax, challenged King by writing, "That's a bit odd. You can well afford it."
King responded, "It ain't the money, it's the principle of the thing."
Musk didn't ignore King. He responded to King's tweet, too, writing, "We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?"'
The billionaire said in his tweet that Twitter Blue users would get "priority in replies," "ability to post long video and audio," "half as many ads," and "paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with us."
Musk criticized the current verification process as a "lords & peasants system," which he decried as [expletive]."
"Power to the people! Blue for $8/month," he added.
Since taking over less than a week ago, Twitter's new owner fired the company's board of directors and made himself the board's sole member, according to a company filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk later said on Twitter that the new board setup is “temporary,” but he didn't provide any details.
Critics have derided Twitter's blue check mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and journalists, as an elite status symbol.
But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.
Musk's changeup aims to tackle what he believes is the biggest problem on the platform: bots and spam accounts. However, doing so could make disinformation networks, which often use these bots, even more likely to spread.
It remains unclear which of Musk's proposals he will prioritize after making several pronouncements about how to fix Twitter since early this year.
The billionaire agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April, but it wasn't until Thursday evening that he finally closed the deal after his attempts to back out of it led to a protracted legal fight with the company. Musk's lawyers are now asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the case, according to a court filing made public Monday. The two sides were supposed to go to trial in November if they didn't close the deal by the end of last week.