After botching the initial launch of Twitter’s “power to the people” verification system, Elon Musk said the social network will cautiously roll out a new multicolored verification system next week.
Twitter’s owner said that under this scheme, businesses will get a gold check mark, government officials will get a gray check mark — probably similar to the “official” check mark it’s currently trialling with some high-profile accounts — and the blue check mark will be dedicated to individuals, even if they are not celebrities. That would mean the blue check mark will be used with outdated verified accounts and people who buy Twitter’s new $8 a month paid plan.
Musk added that the company is aiming to manually authenticate all verifications before the new verification system goes live. It’s not clear what he means by that, as Twitter Blue subscribers get a blue check mark. Not only that, but that of Twitter as well reduced workforce being pressured to manually check every verification to prevent impersonation or spam.
Musk went on to explain that individuals may have a second small logo to indicate whether they are part of a particular organization. That organization must also verify that the individual is representing them or working with them in some way. He added that the decision to apply a blue check to all individual accounts was made because a person’s fame is a subjective matter.
Earlier this month, Musk put the revamped Twitter Blue program and said it would continue November 29. This week, however, Tesla’s CEO put this plan on hold until “there is a high level of stopping imitation.” Notably, this was the first time he talked about using multiple colors for verification.
He did not specify whether this new verification scheme will happen at the same time as the rollout of the Twitter Blue relaunch. It’s likely that this relaunch of verification is for existing verified accounts, businesses, and government officials at this point – not paid subscribers.
Twitter took another step to stop spam and fake accounts when Twitter Blue finally relaunched. Last week, the company changed its terms so that newly created accounts must wait 90 days from the account creation date before they can purchase a Twitter Blue subscription.
When Musk-led Twitter first rolled out its new verification program on Nov. 9, many accounts began impersonating brands, athletes, and celebrities. This prompted Twitter to immediately stop the project. Now he is taking all possible measures to prevent that kind of chaos again.
Earlier today, Musk said Twitter will offer all suspended accounts “general amnesty” starting next week based on the results of the poll he conducted a few days ago.
