Andrew Orr
Elon Musk planned to let users purchase a blue verified checkmark as part of Twitter Blue, then rolled out a separate label to identify actual verified accounts. Hours later, the revision was rolled back.
One of the changes new owner Elon Musk is implementing at the company is revisions to the Twitter Blue service that offers reduced ads, editing tweets, and other premium features. As part of those changes, Musk also wanted Twitter Blue subscribers to receive the blue "verified" checkmark, whether the company actually verified them or not.
I just killed it
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
But Twitter still wants a way to mark those accounts that did go through verification, even though that's what the blue checkmark was originally for. A second checkmark in gray and an "Official" label would marked these authentic accounts, for a short period of time.
Those second checkmarks appeared on Twitter for certain accounts on Wednesday morning — but quickly disappeared apparently by Musk's own hand.
"I just killed it," Musk tweeted on Wednesday, following up with, "Blue check will be the great leveler."
Esther Crawford, Twitter's director of product management, confirmed that the company had rolled the label back, at least for now.
The official label is still going out as part of the @TwitterBlue launch — we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with. What you saw him mention was the fact that we're not focusing on giving individuals the "Official" label right now.
— Esther Crawford (@esthercrawford) November 9, 2022
She said that the company would focus on government and commercial officials, and the "Official" label is still rolling out as part of Twitter Blue. Crawford mentioned that individuals would not receive the new checkmark and label, at least for now.
It's not clear if Crawford and Musk are on the same page regarding the feature.
According to Musk, Twitter users should expect "lots of dumb things in coming months."
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15 Comments
Future looks bright . Elon doing a great job so far! Never used Twitter so will not shed a tear if killed by Elon :-)
So I'm confused... how is it possible to both (1) not have actual verification and (2) ban parody accounts?
I mean, how do you know which account is the parody and which is real? Maybe this "Elon Musk" fellow doesn't exist at all. Maybe Teslas actually run on gas, SpaceX is just a simulation, and Twitter is actually owned by Big Bird?
Say what you want about Elon (Tesla cars have many design problems), but he's gotten more done in Twitter in two weeks than the previous leadership did in a few years. Wouldn't bet against him.