Twitter Blue will be relaunched with a real verification process, a higher price for Apple users

Twitter is officially bringing back the Twitter Blue subscription on Monday, starting in five countries before rapidly expanding to more, according to Esther Crawford, director of product management at Twitter. Web signups will cost $8 per month and iOS signups will cost $11 per month for "access to subscriber-only features, including blue tick," per tweet from the company's account.

Android users can shop on the web and use their subscription on their phone, Crawford said. The higher cost of iOS subscriptions could be a decision by Twitter to offset the cost of Apple's 30% commission for in-app purchased subscriptions, or simply to discourage users from subscribing through the Apple Store , following a Twitter storm from an angry Elon Musk over allegations that Apple was removing advertising on the platform.

Twitter had previously attempted to democratize the prestige of the blue checkmark — once used to verify trustworthy and noteworthy accounts — by making it available to anyone willing to shell out $8 a month for verification to be cursed. The result has been a slew of tick-buying users to impersonate other accounts and generally cause mischief. (See: fake pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly tweeting that insulin is now free and fake Tesla tweeting: "Our cars don't obey school zone speed limits. Fuck them kids.")

Crawford tweeted over the weekend that Twitter has now added a review step before applying a blue checkmark to an account in order to combat spoofing, which she says is contrary to the rules of Twitter.

With the relaunch of Twitter's subscription offering, the social media platform will bolster color-coded timelines by introducing gold checkmarks for businesses and, soon, gray checkmarks for government and " multilateral accounts", whatever they are.

"Companies that previously had relationships with Twitter will receive gold checks on Monday," Crawford tweeted. "We will soon be opening it up to more businesses through a new process."

As Twitter is still testing this feature, the company has warned that subscribers who change their username, display name, or profile picture will temporarily lose the blue tick until their account is up again. examined.

Followers will be able to edit their tweets, upload 1080p videos and have access to player mode, next to their blue checkmarks, the company said. They'll also see their tweets "skyrocketed" to the top of replies, mentions, and searches and get spammed with 50% fewer ads.