Elon Musk, the company’s owner, said Wednesday that he has already “killed” the new “official” designation that had begun rolling out for some of the platform’s biggest names earlier in the day in his latest series of changes to Twitter’s verification system.
Following Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk’s acquisition of the company in late October, Twitter product executive Esther Crawford revealed details about the social network’s new verification scheme on Tuesday.
Crawford stated that some previously verified accounts would bear a “official” label, while any user who pays $7.99 per month for Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription product, would bear a blue check mark. She did not elaborate on what it took to obtain “official” status.
In an audio meeting through “Twitter Spaces” with advertisers on Wednesday, Musk said the “official” badge was “simply another way of creating a two-class system” and “wasn’t addressing the core problem.”
“Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,” Musk wrote in a tweet. “We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.”
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Crawford also acknowledged the change of course on Wednesday, writing in a tweet that “There are no sacred cows in product at Twitter anymore.”
“Elon is willing to try lots of things — many will fail, some will succeed,” she said. “The goal is to find the right mix of successful changes to ensure the long-term health and growth of the business.”
In a follow-up tweet, Crawford said the “official” label will still go out as part of the Twitter Blue launch, but it will just focus on government and commercial entities for the time being.
Musk, who is serving as Twitter’s CEO and sole director, has criticized Twitter’s original verification system, which gives a blue check mark, or verification, to notable users likely to be impersonated by bad actors.
Blue checks originally went to verify the identity of government officials, politicians, celebrities, some journalists, executives, medical professionals and organizations whose identity the company had verified. Musk himself has benefited from having the Twitter verification check mark. So have myriad journalists, including at CNBC.
In a tweet Wednesday, Musk wrote, “Blue check will be the greatest leveler.”
Under Musk’s direction, the new Twitter Blue check mark will instead work as a paying subscriber badge that the company nonetheless plans to call “verification.” The subscription service has become a major focus for Musk, who wants the platform to become less reliant on advertisers and generate more revenue from subscriptions.
