Elon Musk has confirmed that his new paid checkmark system for Twitter verification is “tentatively” scheduled to roll out on the platform next Friday, December 2nd.
Musk said on Friday that accounts for companies, government officials and entities, and individuals be marked with different colors — “gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.”
The tech billionaire added that the switch-up in Twitter’s identity verification strategy is “painful, but necessary” — adding that “all verified individual humans will have same blue check, as boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective.”
Going forward, individuals will be able to apply for “a secondary tiny logo” confirming their ties to an organization, should they be verified by it. (“Longer explanation next week,” tweeted Musk.)
A final point reiterated today by Musk is that “deliberate impersonation/deception” will be dealt with swiftly, by way of account suspension. “Organizational affiliation, bio and follower count distinguish between people who genuinely have the exact same name,” he said. “We shall see how it goes.”
Musk first rolled out his $8 a month plan for Twitter verification back in November, though reports hinting at the move had surfaced earlier. The move comes amid Musk’s campaign to strengthen Twitter’s financials following his acquisition of the platform for $44B. While Musk has spoken of it as a move away from a “lords & peasants system” of verification at Twitter — democratizing the tool for its users — it was swiftly condemned following its announcement by notable figures ranging from United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to author Stephen King and actor Mark Ruffalo.
“Elon. Please—for the love of decency—get off Twitter, hand the keys over to someone who does this as an actual job, and get on with running Tesla and SpaceX,” wrote the latter.
Musk was subsequently forced, on November 11, to temporarily put a pause on the new checkmark system, after it was found to be supporting the creation of new fake accounts.
Musk’s remarks concerning the reinstatement of the paid program can be found below.
Sorry for the delay, we’re tentatively launching Verified on Friday next week.
Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.
Painful, but necessary.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
All verified individual humans will have same blue check, as boundary of what constitutes “notable” is otherwise too subjective.
Individuals can have secondary tiny logo showing they belong to an org if verified as such by that org.
Longer explanation next week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Deliberate impersonation/deception will result in account suspension.
Organizational affiliation, bio and follower count distinguish between people who genuinely have the exact same name.
We shall see how it goes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
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