Hours after the announcement of an “Official” label for select verified accounts including major media outlets and governments, Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter announced that he “killed it”.
I just killed it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Musk added: “Blue check will be the great leveler.”
He went on to say that “Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,” and will keep what works and change what doesn’t.
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.
We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Twitter’s early stage products executive Esther Crawford said earlier on Tuesday that the platform will introduce an “Official” label for select verified accounts including major media outlets and governments when it launches its new $8 premium subscription product.
Crawford also confirmed that the revamped Twitter Blue subscription product, which will allow paid users to carry blue check marks on their accounts, will not actually verify users’ identities. The lack of ID verification is likely to raise concerns about the possibility of people impersonating public figures.
Already, such concerns have caused Twitter to hold off on launching the new version of Twitter Blue until after the US midterm elections on Tuesday, tweeted Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity.
Fake accounts for government officials are a recurring issue for Twitter globally, according to sources familiar with the matter and researchers.
Not all Twitter accounts that were previously verified with a blue check mark would get the “Official” label and the label is not available for purchase, Crawford had said.
However, accounts of governments, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some other public figures would get the label, she tweeted.
The introduction of a new label alongside the existing check marks “creates a confusing system” where some, but not all, previously verified accounts will be deemed official, said Jason Goldman, a former Twitter board member who served as head of product in its early years.
“It’s a complete mess,” he said.
The idea for an official label came after an internal push by Twitter policy executives, who had strong concerns about government officials around the world being unlikely and unwilling to pay for verified check marks, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Twitter, which has lost many members of its communication team, did not respond to Reuter’s request for further comment.
Crawford added on Tuesday that Twitter will “continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.”
