Elon Musk has confirmed that Twitter will charge $8 (£7) per month for paid verification.

It comes after it emerged earlier this week that the new owner of the social media platform was planning to charge $19.99 for a new Twitter Blue subscription.

Now, the CEO has taken to Twitter to confirm the subscription plans – at a lower price.

“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk wrote.

For the new monthly fee Musk also said that users will get “priority in replies, mentions and searches” as well as the ability to post long videos and audio clips.

Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.

Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022

Under the current settings a user can become verified on Twitter by completing an application in their settings page. The “blue tick”, as it’s known informally, is generally reserved for public figures of a particular cultural relevance, including celebrities, influencers, and representatives of major companies such as news organisations.

News of Musk’s plans sparked anger earlier this week, with Kathy Burke among those voicing their protests.

“Musk can fuck off with his idea of charging blue tickers. I give my all to this hell site for FREE. Cheeky bitch should be paying ME. Don’t need the poxy thing anyway,” she wrote.

“He may take our vibes but he’ll never take our memedom.”

Musk can fuck off with his idea of charging blue tickers. I give my all to this hell site for FREE. Cheeky bitch should be paying ME. Don’t need the poxy thing anyway.
He may take our vibes but he’ll never take our memedom!

— Kath ????❄️??✊? (@KathyBurke) October 31, 2022

A number of celebrities have quit Twitter following Musk’s acquisition. On Saturday (October 29), Shonda Rhimes posted: “Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye.”

Singer Sara Bareilles wrote: “Welp. It’s been fun Twitter. I’m out. See you on other platforms, peeps. Sorry, this one’s just not for me.”

Meanwhile, hate speech reportedly also spiked on Twitter following Musk’s recent takeover, according to a new study.

Musk – who is also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla – finalised his £44billion acquisition of Twitter last Thursday (October 27) after initially offering to buy the platform in April 2022.