I think his view on verification also ties into the question of monetization on the platform, and I think it's worth noting that most of the tech/VC types in Elon's circle view Twitter as a *business tool*.

I've seen some comments about how Elon is "making his biggest content creators pay for the right to create free content for his platform"... but I think how Elon and the tech guys view it is that content creation on Twitter gets monetized by creators *outside* of Twitter, by way of being more hireable for traditional media types, being in on more funding rounds/speaking at more conferences for VC types, more electable as a politician, etc. From that POV, a blue check is basically the same thing as a personal URL, it's a basic cost of doing business and of course you'll pay for it.