Twitter is reportedly waiving the $1,000 monthly verification fee for its 10,000 most-followed organizations, amid backlash that the new cost is 'outlandish'

• Twitter plans to charge businesses $1,000 per month to keep their verification status after April 1.
• But Twitter will waive the fee for its top 10,000 most-followed organizations that had legacy verification, per NYT.

Twitter is reportedly planning to waive its $1,000 monthly verification fee for the top most-followed organizations on its platform.

The company recently said it'll remove legacy verification check marks starting April 1, meaning individual users that earned verification under Twitter's previous system will have to start paying $8 a month to keep it. But for organizations — including businesses, nonprofits, and government institutions — verification will cost $1,000 per month.

The top organizations on Twitter, however, will be exempt from this charge, The New York Times reported Thursday. Twitter's top 500 advertising clients and 10,000 most-followed organizations that already had verification before will see their verification fees waived, according to the Times, which cited an internal document.

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Many business owners aren't happy with the new verification fee. William LeGate, cofounder of pillow and mattress company Pillow Fight, told Insider's Kate Duffy it was "outlandish" and "meaningless" because the blue checkmark doesn't even yield a noticeable boost in engagement.

Individuals have also taken issue with the $8 monthly verification fee for their accounts. Musk has said the way Twitter's previous system gave out blue check marks was "corrupt and nonsensical."