New Rollout
The Twitter CEO plans to roll out the new verification program on Friday next week
Elon Musk announced plans to “tentatively” launch a new Twitter verification program on Friday next week. All verified accounts would be “manually authenticated” before the coveted check “activates.” The company CEO called the new process “Painful, but necessary.”
The verification update will also differentiate verified individuals with additional colors: gold checks for companies, grey checks for the government, and blue checks for individual accounts, which Musk pointed out applies to “celebrity or not.”
The announcement follows the failed $8 verified checkmarks Musk installed shortly after taking the reins of the social media platform in October. Almost immediately after introducing the new paid function for everyone to have access to the blue checkmark, dozens of accounts were suspended for impersonating official users, athletes, and journalists and spreading misinformation. Notably, a Washington Post reporter was able to impersonate Senator Ed Markey and clinch a blue checkmark using just “a spare iPhone, a credit card and a little creativity.” The $8 checkmark fiasco was put on pause afterwards.
In a follow up tweet to Friday’s post, Musk also said that all “verified individual humans” with a blue checkmark can also opt for a “secondary tiny logo” displaying organizations they are affiliated to, granted those organizations verify those individuals.
He also mentioned that any “impersonation” or “deception” would be suspended, yet yesterday he granted amnesty to previously banned accounts suspended for misinformation and hate speech, including former President Donald Trump.
In reference to the multicolored Twitter program, Musk nonchalantly added, “We shall see how it goes.”