Social media giant, Twitter, is reportedly considering a cheaper organizational verification plan for small businesses. This move comes after the company faced criticism for its existing verification process, which costs $1,000 per month for brands to receive a golden checkmark, and an additional $50 per month for each affiliate account.
Chief Twit, Elon Musk, recently revealed that the company is working on a new onboarding process to verify organizations and prevent fraudulent activities. However, no details were provided regarding the cost or launch date of the new tier.
Twitter has been advocating for paid verification for some time now, and after removing legacy checkmarks last month, several organizations lost their verification status.
To advertise on the platform, Twitter has started sending emails to various accounts, stating that they will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue or the Organizational Verification plan. Business accounts spending more than $1,000 per month already have gold checks, and they will continue to advertise without interruption at this time.
“Starting April 21, your @account must have a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations to continue running ads on Twitter. Business accounts spending in excess of $1000 per month already have gold checks or will soon, and they’ll continue to enjoy access to advertising without interruption at this time,” the company said in an email.
It is worth noting that organizational verification is not exclusive to Twitter, as Gmail recently launched Blue verified checkmarks to ensure that an emailing brand is genuine. The move towards cheaper organizational verification plans could benefit smaller organizations looking to establish a presence on Twitter without incurring significant costs.