Stephen King compares Elon Musk with a fictional character who cons friends into doing chores and charges them, following Twitter verification dispute

• Stephen King likened Elon Musk to a character who cons friends into doing chores and then charges them.
• King referenced the protagonist in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain.

Stephen King compared Elon Musk with a fictional character who cons friends into doing a job that he received as a punishment and then charges them for the privilege.

The author's comments follow criticism against Musk who took over Twitter on Friday and has announced plans to make verified users pay $8 a month to keep their blue tick — something which King has disagreed with.

"Musk makes me think of Tom Sawyer, who is given the job of whitewashing a fence as punishment," King tweeted on Wednesday. "Tom cons his friends into doing the chore for him, and getting them to pay for the privilege."

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The bestselling horror writer added: "That's what Musk wants to do with Twitter. No, no, no."

King referred to the novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," written by Mark Twain. In the book, the main character is ordered by his family to paint a fence, but he gets his friends to do the job for him and convinces them to give him treasures in exchange, according to a summary of the book on Amazon.

King, a Tesla owner, praised Musk in an earlier tweet, saying he had started "a revolution in how the world drives" and the billionaire has "incredible visionary talents," but then criticized his takeover of Twitter.

The author has spoken out about plans for a monthly verification fee for Twitter users who want to keep their blue tick.

After reports that Twitter could charge $20 a month to be verified on Twitter, King tweeted on Monday to say he would leave Twitter if he had to pay that much, and that "they should pay me." The author made it clear in the comments that it wasn't the money, but the principal of paying that he was unhappy about.

Musk replied to King, saying Twitter has bills to pay and "cannot rely entirely on advertisers." The billionaire suggested to King the charge could be $8 instead. King didn't reply to Musk's comments.

Twitter plans to start charging $8 a month for blue verification badges as early as next week, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.