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US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has raised concerns about troubles with her Twitter account after trading barbs with the platform's new boss Elon Musk about the introduction of a monthly fee for verification of users.
The heated exchange came after Mr Musk this week tweeted his disapproval of "Twitter's current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn't have a blue checkmark" when he introduced a basic rundown of an $US8 Blue plan.
What started the spat?
Ms Ocasio-Cortez initially posted a thinly veiled swipe at a "billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan", to which Mr Musk replied with a cheeky tweet several hours later thanking her for the feedback.
Within an hour the self-proclaimed "Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator" had posted another tweet with the thinking-face emoji and a screenshot from the congresswoman's online shop showing a branded sweatshirt with the price, $US58, circled.
The congresswoman, often referred to as AOC, rejected any suggestions of hypocrisy, posting that her staffers were union members, had full healthcare and were paid a "living wage" before retorting that Mr Musk was "a union buster … who pockets the change from underpaying and mistreating people".
What happened to AOC's Twitter account?
Ms Ocasio-Cortez said her Twitter account wasn't functioning properly and that she had been "informed via text that I seem to have gotten under a certain billionaire's skin".
Earlier this morning Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked Mr Musk on Twitter why users should pay "just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like", and added that it did not "seem very free speechy".
Mr Musk did not respond directly to her accusations or criticisms, but he did share a tweet, signalling his agreement with a Twitter user who said that "charging $8 for premium Twitter experience means Twitter becomes the product again, instead of you … if $8 is too much, you're free to remain as the product".
What is a blue checkmark?
The so-called blue checkmark, tick or, as Twitter refers to it, blue Verification badge is a small icon that appears next to the name of verified users that was first introduced in 2009.
Twitter currently tells companies, activists, organisations, politicians, athletes, celebrities, influencers, journalists etc applying for verification that "Twitter does not sell the blue Verification badge".
Users with "accounts of public interest" are invited to apply for the verification badge and they are told the "account must be authentic, notable, and active".
Mr Musk, however, took to the platform to publicly float plans to start charging for the blue checkmark.
After first testing the idea of charging $US20 ($A30.80) per month for verification and subsequently having author Stephen King tweet that "if that gets instituted, I'm gone like Enron", Mr Musk seems to have settled now on an $US8 figure that will have the "price adjusted by country proportionate to purchasing power parity".
The plan, which would also unlock other premium features, has attracted a good deal of criticism, some of which Mr Musk has responded to by tweeting memes.
And this was the backdrop on display when the prominent congresswoman entered the stage.
Will verified users pay up?
Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg said "tapping into Twitter users to make more money may be the right strategy", but that verification was not the right feature to charge for.
"Verification is intended to ensure the integrity of accounts and conversations on the platform, rather than a premium feature meant to elevate the experience," she said.
"There is a growing appetite among some social users to pay for features that add value to their experiences."
Ms Enberg said Mr Musk should be looking at adding features to Twitter that get people to use it more and help them grow their follower base and find a way to make money from those.
"Turning users into customers isn't an easy sell, and the value exchange has to be right in order for it to pay off," she said.
Twitter already has a subscription plan, Twitter Blue, that for $US5 a month lets users access extra features, such as the ability to undo a tweet and read ad-free articles.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives estimated that of the roughly 300,000 verified Twitter accounts, "only about 25 per cent would go down this path ultimately and pay the $8 per month fee".
That would mean only $US7.2 million a year in extra revenue for Twitter — not enough to move the dial for a company whose last reported quarterly revenue was $US1.18 billion.
Why are Twitter staff 'really worried'?
Meanwhile, insecurity has spread across Twitter offices as 7,500 employees from San Francisco to Singapore feared job cuts that were planned to hit about half of the staff, according to current and former employees and message board posts shared with Reuters.
Since Mr Musk took over last week, he has kept employees in the dark without addressing the staff or laying out his plans for the future of the company, multiple employees have said.
Managers have been forbidden from calling team meetings or communicating directly with staff, one senior Twitter employee said, adding that they were being monitored.
"It feels like we're working among the Gestapo," they said.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Employees have largely stopped posting on internal Slack channels for fear of reprisal from new bosses, with many instead taking to venting in encrypted messaging apps and the dedicated Twitter company channel on the app Blind, which provides a space for employees to share information anonymously.
"I'm really worried," a Twitter staffer wrote on Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses.
Employees are waiting to hear if they will still have jobs on Friday (US time), when lay-offs are expected to begin, according to speculation among employees.