Trevor Noah criticises Elon Musk’s Twitter ‘ridiculous’ verification fee plan

‘You’re trying to make money,’ said Noah about Musk

Trevor Noah has criticised Elon Musk’s plan to charge Twitter users a fee for being verified.

After acquiring the social media platform late last month, Musk has said Twitter will charge $8 (£7) a month to Twitter users who want a blue tick by their name, which signifies a verified account.

The Tesla CEO said the move is “essential to defeat spam” and criticised the old verification method as a “lords and peasants system”.

However, in his latest episode of The Daily Show, Noah called the plan “ridiculous” adding that “it doesn’t make sense”.

Noah said the idea goes against Musk’s plan of bringing free speech and equality to Twitter.

So, here’s my question, if you’re trying to create equality on Twitter, why charge anyone to be verified? Just give everyone a blue checkmark then,” Noah said.

“Why are you charging people? It doesn’t make sense to offer it as ‘equality’ and then put a price on it, do you get what I’m saying?”

He continued: “Can you imagine if MLK was out there like, ‘I have a dream. I have a dream… and I’ll tell you all about it for $8.99 a month.’ It wouldn’t be the same thing.”

According to reports, Musk – who is currently the world’s richest man – originally planned the verification fee to be $19.99 a month (around £17.44) but reduced the price after backlash.

In a tweet on Wednesday (2 November), he wrote: “To all complainers, please continue complaining, but it will cost $8”.

“Can you imagine if MLK was out there like, ‘I have a dream… and I’ll tell you all about it for $8.99 a month,’” said Noah (Getty Images)

Noah continued his points against Musk’s payment plan by deriding it as purely a money-making scheme.

“With $8 a month, you can subscribe to Netflix, you can get Paramount+, you can get Hulu… or you can pay so that people verify that they’re actually s***ting on you,” the host added.

“It’s all about ‘equality.’ No, you’re trying to make money. I get it. I think this $8 a month thing is ridiculous.

“If you ask me, if Elon Musk wants to make money from Twitter, what he should do [is], don’t charge people for blue checkmarks. Charge white people to say the N-word.

“Twitter will be the most profitable company in history. Racists will be taking out loans,” he added.