Elon Musk, the new owner and current CEO of Twitter, has stated that the platform will soon add grey and gold verification checkmarks to accounts representing businesses and governments, in addition to the standard blue verification badge for individuals. After launching the paid blue tick verified badges under the Twitter Blue plan earlier this month, it was suspended after large-scale misuse of the service by fake accounts.
Musk, who hinted last week that Twitter was considering displaying different colour verification badges for select accounts, has now confirmed that the social network will go ahead with the plan, which he describes as “painful but necessary.”
In reply to a Twitter user (@cryptoking), Musk wrote, “Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week. Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not), and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check activates. Painful, but necessary.”
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
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.
It was expected that Twitter will introduce some sort of authentication for verification badges after the havoc created by the paid blue tick badges caused earlier this month.
The Twitter user asked Musk if every individual verified as a public official or buying the checkmark by paying $8 dollar will have the same verified checkmark or if it will be customizable.
So every individual verified as a public official or $8 payment will have the same check?
— Crypto King (@Cryptoking) November 25, 2022
Will they be customizable?
Will there be a red check for those that commit fraud but verified #NYT?
Replying to him Elon Musk stated that all the verified individuals will have the same blue verified checkmark, however, individuals can have a relatively small logo showing they belong to an organisation after the organisation verifies the individual. Musk also confirmed that a new verification process will be rolled out on December 2.
“All verified individual humans will have the same blue check, as the boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective. Individuals can have a secondary tiny logo showing they belong to an org if verified as such by that org. Longer explanation next week,” Musk wrote.
All verified individual humans will have same blue check, as boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Individuals can have secondary tiny logo showing they belong to an org if verified as such by that org.
Longer explanation next week.
Notably, On November 22, Elon Musk said in a tweet that the relaunch of Blue Verified, which was expected to start on November 29, has been postponed. Furthermore, he said Twitter might come up with colour-coded verified checks to differentiate between organisations and individuals.
Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2022
Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.
The Twitter Blue Subscription opened up the floodgates for impersonators to get verified badges and post unauthorized posts while posing and celebrities and official accounts. It caused such havoc on the social media platform that $15 billion in wealth was erased after an account belonging to an individual impersonating Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals published a post implying that insulin would be free. Eli Lilly is one of the world’s largest insulin manufacturers. The stocks of several other companies like defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin were also affected.
Twitter Blue was introduced on November 5 for $8 per month. Initially, iOS users in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom were able to use the feature. Before it was put on hold, Twitter Blue was available for $7.99 per month. It includes a verification badge or a blue checkmark on the profile, as well as limited advertisements and other features.
