With the Twitter update on Saturday, in Apple's App Store, users will be charged $8 for sought-after blue check verification marks, the first major revision after Musk took over the of the social media platform.
The billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of electric car maker Tesla has already cut half the staff at Twitter and has vowed to start charging users more.
In the update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said those who "sign up now" for $7.99 a month can receive the blue checkmark next to their user names, "just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow."
Before Musk took over, blue check marks next to a person's user name meant Twitter confirmed the account belonged to the person or company claiming it. It was not immediately clear how or if Twitter planned to verify the identity of the user beyond charging a fee.
According to the iOS notification, other benefits in the update include "half the ads", the ability to post longer videos to Twitter and priority ranking for quality content.
Musk had already indicated the updates earlier this week in his push to monetize the social media network and make it less reliant on ads. Twitter is currently free for most users.
Twitter's update said the new service with verification will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Twitter Blue will roll out in India in "hopefully less than a month," Musk tweeted in reply to a question from a follower.
In a separate tweet, Musk also added that "fixing search is a top priority" on Twitter.
"Twitter will soon add ability to attach long-form text to tweets, ending absurdity of notepad screenshots. Followed by creator monetization for all forms of content," Musk added in a tweet.
Shortly after the update was available to users, Twitter's early stage products executive Esther Crawford said the new service was not yet live.
"The new Blue isn’t live yet — the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time," she said in a tweet.
-Reuters