Elon “Chief Twit” Musk has set a deadline for his employees – introduce paid verification on the platform or leave.

The plan is to transform Twitter Blue, Twitter’s optional $4.99 per month subscription to a new $19.99 plan, which will also feature the option for users to verify themselves. Current verified users will have a grace period of 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue checkmark, The Verge reported. 

In the months leading up to Musk’s acquisition of the site, Musk was clear on his intentions of handling bots and verified users. Tweeting on Sunday, he wrote, “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”

Twitter Blue has been available for a while but failed to garner much revenue, as advertising still makes up for the bulk of the site’s revenue. Users who subscribe to Twitter Blue are able to post 10-minute-long videos and edit their tweets. 

Musk’s proposal for a $19.99 plan for Twitter verification hit journalists the hardest, with many voicing their complaints about having to pay $220 a year to maintain their online status. 

Musk also refuted a New York Times article accusing the billionaire of planning a series of layoffs before November 1 to avoid paying staff their annual stock grants, responding to the article writing, “This is fake.”

He then later quipped, “This is fake - I did *not* tweet out a link to the New York Times.”

This is fake – I did *not* tweet out a link to The New York Times! pic.twitter.com/d6V6m5ATW2

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2022