ALBAWABA - Twitter Blue will probably "come back end of next week", billionaire owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday.
The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures, but a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue, according to Reuters.
With the increase in fake accounts Twitter on Friday paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service as several users reported that the new subscription option for the blue verification check mark had disappeared, while a source told Reuters the offering had been dropped.
"To combat impersonation, we've added an 'Official' label to some accounts," Twitter's support account tweeted on Friday. The on again, off again label was originally introduced on Wednesday - but "killed" by Musk just hours later, then brought back.
Musk told staff in an all-hands meeting on Thursday that due to the company's serious financial problems "bankruptcy is not out of the question" if it doesn't start generating significantly more revenue.
"Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn," Musk said in an email on Thursday to staff.
