Key Highlights
- Twitter users in Nigeria also have the option of paying a lower amount when they subscribe annually.
- Subscription cost is higher if done through the app, but lower on the web.
- Twitter plans to remove the verification mark from non-subscribers starting from April 1, 2023.
Nigerians that want to subscribe to Twitter Blue will be paying N3,560 per month, the company has revealed. However, the company is offering a discount to subscribers that pay for one year of N38,500, which amounts to N3,208 per month.
Twitter’s Chief, Elon Musk, on Monday noted that this amount is only for those that will be subscribing via the web as Google has also begun the implementation of a tax on the app, which pushes the cost of subscription via Android app to $11 same as iOS.
Based on the dollar exchange rate at the parallel market which is currently about N746 to a dollar, the subscription charges may be considered lower compared with the global price. However, at the official rate of N460.40, the charge is higher than the global price.
Only paid subscribers matter: Emphasising the need for the paid subscription, Musk said AI robots have now made confirming whether a user is human or robot worthless. He added that paid subscription makes verification easier.
“Given that modern AI can solve any “prove you’re not a robot” tests, it’s now trivial to spin up 100k human-like bots for less than a penny per account. Paid verification increases bot cost by ~10,000% and makes it much easier to identify bots by phone and CC clustering.
“Obvious conclusion: paid account social media will be the only social media that matters,” he said.
The microblogging site, recently expanded its Blue subscription globally, thus allowing Nigerian users to also subscribe to the plan which offers benefits that free users do not get.
Legacy Blue to be removed April 1: Meanwhile, Twitter has said it will remove all legacy Blue checkmarks that were given to users for free before Elon Musk took over the company. This is to compel anyone that wants to be verified to pay for the subscription.
“On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue,” the company stated in a Tweet that was accompanied by links to subscribe to the premium program.
Twitter has also introduced some changes to its Twitter Blue subscription. According to the latest reports, the waiting period for new accounts to buy Twitter Blue has been reduced to 30 days.
Earlier, newly created accounts had to wait for 90 days to be eligible to subscribe to Twitter Blue. The waiting period was introduced after several accounts began impersonating brands, politicians, and celebrities after Elon Musk introduced the Twitter Blue plan.