Elon Musk walks back one of his most controversial X changes

Remy Blaire brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading Friday, April 5.

Full Video Transcript Below:

REMY BLAIRE: I’m Remy Blaire reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. This is what we’re watching on TheStreet today.

Investors are reacting to the March jobs report released earlier on Friday. The U.S. added 303,000 jobs in March, above Wall Street expectations of 200,000. The unemployment rate also ticked lower from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent. This report marks the 39th straight month of job growth, highlighting just how strong the U.S. labor market is.

In other news - the blue check mark is back to being free. After taking control of Twitter in October of 2022, one of Elon Musk’s first moves was to end the company’s "BS" verification process. The company, now X, began charging users $11 to keep the coveted check mark - no matter how many followers a user had.

But Musk’s stance has changed, as he introduced new standards for keeping the blue check. According to the CEO - “X accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get premium plus for free.” Those who don’t meet the followers requirements will still have to pay $11 a month to keep their status.

However that $11 buys you more than just a blue check mark. Subscribers also receive the ability to have their posts featured more prominently in X’s feed, as well as have the option to post longer videos than nonsubscribers.

Musk had hoped that charging users to keep their blue check mark status would create an additional revenue stream - especially after big-name advertisers fled the platform. The company has not disclosed the number of paid premium subscribers it currently has.

That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Remy Blaire with TheStreet.