Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, announced in a Friday tweet that the revised “Verified” program is expected to launch December 2.
“Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week,” Musk stated in a Twitter post. “Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.”
“Painful, but necessary,” he concluded.
Politicians, powerful people and media members had the vaunted blue check mark, signifying a verified account all to themselves. Many howled when Musk announced a relaxation of criteria for obtaining a verified account.
The blue check would be included in Twitter Blue subscription services, which initially rolled out at $8 per month.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) ridiculed the rollout in a Twitter post. She questioned the motive of the billionaire champion of free speech for charging a fee to let others tweet.
“Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that ‘free speech’ is actually a $8/mo subscription plan,” Ocasio-Cortez remarked in a November 1 tweet that attracted 700,000 likes.
“Your feedback is appreciated,” responded the world’s richest man, “now pay $8.”
Twitter suspended its Blue subscription service earlier this month after some users impersonated celebrities, politicians and brands after getting a paid verification badge.
Musk announced the new color-coded verification program in a reply to former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
“Here’s what Elon Musk fails to understand: Much of a corporations’ value lies in their workers — their knowledge, skills, and ideas,” declared Reich Wednesday in a Twitter post. “When he fired half of Twitter’s workforce and drove off even more, he wasn’t ‘cutting costs.’ He was actively destroying what he bought.”
“Interesting … now pay $8,” responded Musk.
A post to the thread from a user in Mumbai, India, Friday reignited the discussion thread.
“Elon, I’m trying,” commented the account identified as CryptoKing. “It won’t let me and I’m Verified (need to edit 1 character I can’t spell).”
Within 10 minutes of the Indian post, Musk responded with the announcement about the upcoming launch of color-coded verification marks.
MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor agreed in a later comment that distinguishing between companies, governments and individuals makes sense. Saylor noted users need a way to quickly distinguish between public figures and other individuals with the exact same Twitter name. He said confusion would result, otherwise.
“Deliberate impersonation/deception will result in account suspension,” Musk replied. “Organizational affiliation, bio and follower count distinguish between people who genuinely have the exact same name.”
“We shall see how it goes.”
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