After much back and forth, Elon Musk finally bought Twitter over two weeks ago. In this short period, some of the ideas that the businessman had before closing the operation began to take shape, one of them being the verification of accounts.
Earlier this year, Musk had proposed ( in a since-deleted tweet ) offering the verification blue badge to all users who pay $2 for Twitter Blue. According to the businessman, the idea behind this was to make it easier to separate fake accounts from real ones to fight against bots.
The new features that Twitter is working on seem to be changing almost in real time. As of this writing, the new Twitter Blue won’t cost $2 or offer the blue verification badge. It will cost $8 and will come with additional perks for subscribers.
Twitter had, for a few hours, two verification badges.
Among so many bickering, it is normal for social network users to be a bit confused. But there is more. Twitter is changing its verification scheme. There were two verification badges for just a few hours, one for Twitter Blue subscribers and another “Official” accompanied by a hashtag.
Twitter’s director of product management, Esther Crawford, announced the changes to the social network in response to user concerns about potential phishing with verified Twitter Blue badges. The novelty, however, only remained active for a few hours. This afternoon Elon Musk tweeted that he had “killed her “.
The idea that Twitter was testing was to introduce a small verification badge accompanied by the label “Official”. In Crawford’s words, it was a form of verification that “could not be bought” and was reserved for companies, government accounts, the media, and public figures, among others.
For their part, Twitter Blue subscribers would receive a verification badge that would not include identity verification but would provide access to features announced by Elon Musk a few days ago, such as priority responses, mentions, and searches “to beat spam.”.
Crawford had pointed out that not all pre-verified accounts would get the “Official” label, so it remained to be seen how they would proceed in this regard. Some relevant accounts (such as Reuters, The Verge, and Marques Brownlee ) displayed the small badge accompanied by the “Official” tag for a few hours, but this identification has since disappeared.
As we say, new Twitter functions are developing in real time. Under the leadership of Elon Musk, at least for now, it looks like that will be the norm. “Remember that Twitter will do many dumb things in the coming months. We’ll keep what works and change what doesn’t,” said the businessman.
Regarding efforts to combat bots on the platform, Yoel Roth, the head of security and integrity, has said they will increase the review of accounts with active Twitter Blue, focusing on identity theft.
In this regard, Twitter says it will be able to remove the Twitter Blue verification badge from subscribers who do not comply with its rules, including the rules on spam, ban evasion, and phishing. It remains to be seen how the changes that Elon Musk has in mind for the social network will evolve and, above all, what will be the users’ response.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
