Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) will exempt thousands of advertisers from monthly verification charges, as it looks to shore up revenues, hit since Elon Musk’s US$44bn October takeover.
Its largest advertisers will be let off a US$1,000 monthly verification charge, according to a document seen by the New York Times, including the 500 biggest names and 10,000 of the most-followed organisations which already boast a blue tick.
Organisations will be able to verify staff and associates by paying for the new tool, which is being rolled out on Friday.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) are two of Twitter’s largest advertisers, with Musk thanking the duo for remaining on the social media at a San Francisco technology conference in early March.
Musk’s appreciation of the two comes after hundreds of other paying advertisers fled Twitter in response to its thousands of job cuts and alleged relaxation of content policies.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Coca Cola and Pfizer are among those having left the site, according to campaigner Stop Toxic Twitter, pushing Twitter’s daily revenues down by 40% compared to last year.
Spending on Twitter has reduced 89% among its top 10 advertisers in recent months, Bloomberg found, falling from US$71mln between September and October last year to US$7.6mln in the past two months.
Verified Organizations is a new way for organizations and their affiliates to distinguish themselves on Twitter. Rather than relying on Twitter to be the sole arbiter of truth for which accounts should be verified, vetted organizations that sign up for https://t.co/1v6wSVKfDb…
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 31, 2023