Elon Musk is expecting Twitter employees to work around the clock to make changes he'd like to see on the platform.
Among the first changes Musk is demanding is to the verification process at Twitter, which he has owned since Thursday evening. Sunday afternoon he wrote on Twitter that this part of the platform was "being revamped."
Just a few hours before, multiple teams across the company had been tasked with doing just that, according to internal messages seen by Insider. The work is being called "Blue Verified" and aimed at figuring out a way to boost the business of Twitter Blue, currently a $4.99 subscription offering on the platform giving access to perks like ad-free news articles and customizable features.
"This is the change that Elon has requested and it has to go out by 04 Nov," an internal message said. "This should be the most critical work we do this week. The expectation is literally to work 24/7 to get this out. Every function in the company is doing the same."
The Platformer newsletter and The Verge earlier reported that Musk was pushing for a change to Twitter Blue that would require anyone who wanted to be verified on Twitter, signified by a blue checkmark icon next to their profile name, to pay a monthly fee. Platformer reported the cost would be $4.99 and The Verge reported it would be $20.
The changes to Blue are in flux, as they are currently being built and "tested," a person familiar with the process said. But the mandate to engineers and other teams working on verification is clear: the work needs to be done by Friday, or else.
In order to make changes on such a tight schedule, there will be calls every 12 hours to "hand off work" between teams in different time zones, internal messages said.
"It is absolutely critical for us to get this done in such a short amount of time," one message read. "We all need to work together on this."
While work has started on "Blue Verified," employees are also expecting "aggressive" layoffs to begin on Monday, as Insider reported.
"This is it," one of the people familiar said, describing the feeling at the company under Musk. "Your job is on the line."
Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or through Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-work device.
