Twitter’s blue checkmark may become more of a status symbol than it already is. Elon Musk, who completed his purchase of the social media company for $44 billion last week, is reportedly looking at charging Twitter users a monthly subscription for verification.

According to a report from The Verge, Musk plans to increase the price of Twitter Blue from its current $4.99/month to $19.99/month. The potential revamp to Twitter’s verification process was first reported by Platformer.

Twitter Blue is essentially a premium version of the social media site, offering some perks like the ability to edit tweets, read ad-free articles, and customize the Twitter app icon. Musk’s more expensive Twitter Blue will reportedly change how verification works on Twitter, not only by charging everyone for the checkmark, but allowing anyone to get verified.

Nothing has been officially announced yet as of this writing on October 31 — Musk is pressuring engineers to deliver the change by November 7 or “they will be fired” according to The Verge — but many Twitter users (verified or not) have questions about this coming change. Let’s try to answer them.

How much will Twitter verification cost?

As we said earlier, Musk reportedly plans on charging $19.99/month for Twitter Blue, which would include a checkmark (a verified user) displayed next to a username. That monthly subscription fee totals up to $240 per year. Yikes!

Who can get verified?

Currently, blue checkmarks on Twitter are reserved for “an account of public interest” according to Twitter’s Help Center site. These accounts can be celebrities, journalists, influencers, politicians (like the U.S. president!), company brands, etc. Twitter can verify a user or a user can apply for verification in hopes of being granted the checkmark. The verification process was designed to prevent cases of mistaken identity online.

However, under Musk, anyone would be able to get verified so long as they pay for a Twitter Blue subscription.

Will existing verified users need to pay to keep their checkmark?

Yes. According to The Verge, once the $19.99/month Twitter Blue subscription goes live, existing verified users will have up to 90 days to subscribe or they’ll lose their checkmark. This change has stirred reactions from every end of the spectrum.

Some existing verified users say they won’t pay the monthly fee to keep their verification and others have reasoned that it’s no different than paying for a custom domain or a vanity license plate. Of course, there’s a lot we still don’t know about losing verification.

What if someone tries to impersonate you with a fake verified account?

That’s what everyone with a verified account wants to know. If anyone can pay for verification, what happens if a person pays to verify their username and uses it to impersonate somebody else who is verified or unverified? The whole point of verified users is that you are certain they are authentic.

For example, Inverse deputy editor Raymond Wong’s verified account is @raywongy. His account is verified so you know the account really belongs to him. But what if a stranger pays to verify, say, @raywongy2, and pretends to be Raymond? How is the public supposed to know which verified account is the real one? And what if the real Raymond decides not to pay for verification, loses the checkmark, and everyone thinks the fake one is the real one because it has the checkmark and his doesn’t?

What about bots that could (and will) impersonate someone?

Does Musk have a plan to combat verified impersonation? There seems to be a lot of potential for abuse.

Who will pay for your Twitter verification?

Naturally, if you’re a single user, you can pay for verification yourself. But, what if you were verified through a management company that represents you or maybe you’re a journalist who works for a media company? Will your company be open to paying for your Twitter verification or will that have to be a personal expense? Our guess is that some companies might foot the bill if they deem it a worthwhile expense, but you’ll definitely lose your checkmark if you leave.

Everyone is verified?

All of this makes you wonder: if everyone becomes a verified user, what value would verification even have? Verification would just be a status symbol — a public way to distinguish between a paid and non-paid user.

Why is Elon Musk doing this?

Simple: money. Revenue. Profits. With shrinking year-over-year revenue, Musk needs to trim the fat and generate cashflow at Twitter.

It’s not hard to see why Musk thinks it’s a genius idea to charge for verification. Twitter had around 400,000 verified users as of 2021, according to The Guardian. If every one of those users fork over $20/month, Twitter would bring in $96 million a year. With a reach of 237 million daily users, Twitter could make a theoretical $59.6 billion annually if every user paid for verification. Of course, not everyone will, so the revenue would be less, but it would still be a lucrative amount.