ELON Musk is set to introduce a $20 per month charge for Twitter verification, new reports suggest.

According to The Verge, the new owner of Twitter wants to launch a verification system which requires users to pay $20 a month.

The report also states that the price of verification is subject to change.

Twitter has been contacted for comment.

South Wales Argus:

It comes after Mr Musk tweeted a link to an unfounded rumour about the attack on house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.

Mr Musk’s tweet, which he later deleted, linked to an article by a fringe website, the Santa Monica Observer, an outlet that has previously asserted that Hillary Clinton died on September 11 and was replaced with a body double.

In this case, the article recycled a baseless claim that the personal life of Paul Pelosi, the speaker’s husband, somehow played a role in an intruder’s attack last week in the couple’s San Francisco home, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.

Mr Musk did so in reply to a tweet by Mrs Clinton. Her tweet had criticised Republicans for generally spreading “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” and said: “It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result.”

In response to Mrs Clinton’s tweet, Mr Musk provided a link to the Santa Monica Observer article and added: “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”

The Los Angeles Times, the dominant news organisation in the southern California area where the Observer is located, has said the Observer is “notorious for fake news”.

Police in San Francisco have said the suspect in last week’s attack, identified as David DePape, 42, broke into the Pelosi family’s Pacific Heights home early on Friday and confronted Mr Pelosi, demanding to know, “Where is Nancy?”

The two men struggled over a hammer before officers responding to a 911 call to the home saw DePape strike Mr Pelosi at least once, police said. DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary. Prosecutors plan to file charges on Monday and expect his arraignment on Tuesday.

Police say the attack was “intentional” and not random but have not stated publicly what they consider to be the motive.