Some University of Texas at Austin students raised their eyebrows at public figures like Stephen King and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., complaining about Elon Musk’s plan to charge $8 per month for Twitter verification.
“It’s a bit silly,” one UT student told Fox News. But he added: “I don’t really care, to be honest.”
Another student called it “capitalism at its finest.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., argued that Elon Musk’s $8 Twitter verification fee was like paying for free speech. (Fox News/Twitter)
King and Ocasio-Cortez got into spats with Musk on Twitter after the social media giant’s new owner announced the verification charge. King said Twitter should pay him, while Ocasio-Cortez argued that it was like charging for free speech.
AOC responds to Twitter’s public figure charge (Fox News/Twitter)
“I don’t get that, to be honest,” the first UT student said.
Stephen King reacts to Twitter verification fee (Fox News/Twitter)
One student said it shouldn’t be a big deal for famous people as long as the app remains free.
“They can still just use it and not have the check mark if it’s that big of a deal for them,” she said. “It’s not like he’s charging to use the app.”
Stephen King and Elon Musk exchange tweets (Fox News/Twitter)
“If you don’t want to pay for it, then don’t,” the student told Fox News. “But I guess I get why they’re upset because it’s like once you have it and now it’s like you have to pay for it, it’s kind of dumb.”
