A year after Twitter launched "Twitter Blue," the company is implementing a price hike in the subscription for the first time.
Twitter Blue is a subscription that allows users to unlock exclusive features including the ability to undo a recently-sent tweet, read publications ad-free and change theme options.
Social media consultant Matt Navarra noted that Twitter sent an email on Thursday to current Twitter Blue subscribers notifying them of the increase from $2.99 per month to $4.99, a 66% raise in the service's fee.
New Subscribers Will be Charged with Adjusted Price
According to 9to5Mac, Twitter Blue is already charging $4.99 for the latest version of the app for iOS. This only means that new subscribers will already pay the new price.
However, Twitter claimed that "early adopters" of Twitter Blue or those who already have an active subscription will keep on paying $2.99 monthly until October 2022.
Twitter Blue's subscription price will automatically increase to $4.99 after October. The company said that 30 days before the new price subscription takes effect, they will send a notification to the customers.
It is unclear why Twitter decided to increase the price of Twitter subscription after a year. The company did not provide any detail regarding the issue.
However, according to the company, the price increase will aid the platform as it "continue to build some of the new features" that users have been asking for, as per 9to5Mac.
"At launch, we felt strongly about keeping the cost of the subscription as low as possible while we tested, learned and gathered feedback," said a Twitter spokesperson.
But the spokesperson added that the company have since refined the vision Twitter Blue.
Moreover, the company had conducted significant research, and introduced new enhancements with more in development. Given these reasons, Twitter is updating pricing.
Read Also: Twitter Introduces Blue Checkmark Verified Accounts
Twitter Keeps on Improving its Platform Despite of the Dispute with Elon Musk
This price increase in Twitter Blue is introduced while Twitter is in the middle of a legal dispute with Elon Musk, according to CNET.
In April, the billionaire decided to launched a bid to take over Twitter for $44 billion. However, earlier this month, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX said that he's walking away from the deal. This caused Twitter to lose money and a number of employees.
According to Musk, Twitter did not follow the purchase agreement as the company failed to provide sufficient information on the number of spam accounts on the platform. In response, Twitter filed a lawsuit to force Musk to proceed with the deal.
Despite of the dispute with Musk, Twitter has been working to improve its platform. The company announced new features over the past few months. Among the new features are record and replay Spaces, a Close Friends-like "Circles" feature, and CoTweets.
When it comes to Twitter Blue, it can be noted that the subscription of the platform is currently available in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Twitter Blue users can also read some publications ad-free. These include The Washington Post, USA Today, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, Insider and The Hollywood Reporter.
Related Article: Android Twitter Blue Users Can Now Customize Its Navigation Bar
