Elon Musk has made lots of changes to X (formerly Twitter) since he took the helm. A major change was the introduction of a subscription tier, initially called Twitter Blue (now X Premium), offering exclusive features such as the coveted blue verification checkmark. But not everyone was keen on paying for it. Well, now it looks like you can get the X Premium subscription for free.
Elon Musk announced in an X post on Thursday, “Going forward, all 𝕏 accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free.”
So if you haven’t upgraded to the paid plan yourself, you can get all the benefits included in these plans free of charge. Here’s the catch: you’ll need a significant following of verified X users subscribed to either X Premium or Premium+.
The Premium tier unlocks features like the blue checkmark, reduced ads, post-editing, extended post/video lengths, prioritized replies, ID verification, and more. It also grants access to Grok, X’s in-app AI assistant, previously exclusive to the pricier Premium+ tier.
All this would have set you back by $8 monthly or $84 annually for the Premium tier. Meanwhile, the Premium+ tier costs $16/month or $168/year.
This could be a new way to promote genuine users just like the blue tick used to do earlier. That is because the Premium membership verifies your account and adds a blue checkmark. It could also help users who need the X Premium features for free, without paying extra.
While most of Mr. Musk’s announcements are controversial, I feel this one is a good step. As it will help a lot of accounts gain much-needed traction on the app. What are your thoughts on this new announcement, let us know in the comments.