Since taking over Twitter in October, CEO Elon Musk has faced quite the wave of grievances and headaches. Yes, some (most) were self-inflicted thanks to his off-the-handle tweets likely made on the porcelain throne, but his promise to rid the platform of bot accounts has thus far been muddled with failed solutions.
After purchasing the platform for a whooping $44 billion, Musk promised to prioritize Twitter’s opaque user verification system. He unveiled a new scheme whereby users could pay $8 per month for a blue checkmark, with the hope of solving two main conundrums: the company’s falling revenues, and surmounting pile of “bot” accounts. However, the strategy didn’t go as planned, after freshly-verified users began impersonating actual verified accounts— including insulin maker Eli Lilly &Co., and even Musk’s own EV company Tesla, posting misleading tweets.
Musk was soon forced to scrap the feature, and instead come up with something more fool-proof. In a tweet posted on Friday, Musk said a newly re-designed verification system for paid users will be “tentatively” unveiled next week. “We’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week,” he said, adding that under the new system, subscribers will get a blue checkmark to prove their verified status, while government accounts will receive a grey checkmark, and companies will get a gold tick.
“All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before [the] check activates,” Musk continued, conceding that the move is “painful, but necessary.” He promised to provide additional clarity on the overhauled verification system next week.
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