- Elon Musk said he would pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue, which gives users a blue verified tick.
- He posted an image of a shirt showing the tweet he sent to AOC: "Your feedback is appreciated. Now pay $8."
Elon Musk has said that he would pay the monthly $8 subscription for Twitter Blue after celebrities and lawmakers criticized him over the intended fee.
Musk, who officially became the owner of Twitter on October 27, shared a picture on Monday on the social-media platform, showing a black t-shirt that included the words "your feedback is appreciated. Now pay $8" and a blue checkmark underneath.
The phrase was in fact the reply, which Musk sent to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she slammed his plans to charge Twitter users $8 for blue ticks.
A verified Twitter user commented on Musk's photo of the t-shirt on Monday, saying "are you going to pay the $8, elon?" Musk replied with the 100 sign emoji.
It appears to be the first time Musk has publicly said he would pay the $8 fee since proposing it after he bought Twitter for $44 billion.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has doubled down on Twitter's plans to charge $8 to users who want to have a blue verification tick, as well as the ability to post longer videos, see fewer ads, and gain priority status.
"Trash me all day, but it'll cost $8," "so long as pay $8, please be my guest," and "$8 for all" are among the tweets Musk has posted over the past week. This indicates that Twitter doesn't plan to let anyone have a blue tick for free.
Celebrities such as Lynda Carter and Josh Gad, lawmakers including the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and major media organizations have expressed disapproval of the planned monthly $8 fee.
The New York Times reported that Twitter was delaying the launch of its paid verification plan until after the midterm elections. The publication cited an internal message and two people familiar with the matter.