Update (11/22/2022) – by LR
In less than 30 days after becoming the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk achieved two feats: scaring away advertisers and making a totally unknown Indian social network gain popularity. The billionaire’s decision to insert the traditional blue ‘verification’ stamp into the Blue subscription caused a huge uproar and was poorly received in the market.
Pharmaceutical Eli Lilly shares plummeted after a fake account with name, at sign and ‘verification’ stamp — in this case the one given to Twitter Blue subscribers — announced the free insulin in the United States, a country where the medication bottle is sold for US$ 275 (BRL 1,458).
This enormous instability led the executive to take the decision to remove the blue seal from the account of future subscribers of the platform’s monthly plan. The measure aims to contain the flight and mass of advertisers who have the credibility of their brands shaken by cases like the Eli Lilly laboratory.
In a post made on his profile on the social network, Elon Musk says that “we will postpone the relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence to stop identity spoofing”, completing with “will probably use different color verification for organizations than individuals “.
The post reveals two things: the entrepreneur still intends to monetize the seal displayed next to the profile name — to avoid problems, it should no longer be blue — and the social network works to contain the damage caused after Musk did not consider the opinion of his officials who warned against the creation of fake accounts impersonating companies and public figures.
While a definitive solution is not created, the blue seal will not be available to new subscribers, however, the other benefits of the subscription remain valid.
Original (11/18/2022)
Solving the mess? Twitter Blue verified badge not available for new users
Twitter Blue’s verified badge caused several problems with famous accounts and now the social network has announced a change to avoid these confusions. Going forward, all new Twitter accounts will not have access to the Twitter Blue verified badge for a period of time, preventing them from impersonating other people.
According to The Verge, Twitter Blue should be available again from November 29, however, only those who have accounts for more than 90 days will be able to subscribe to the service from now on.
The change is even more evident when we compare the Blue Twitter page stored by Archive.org, where there is no paragraph below with the new rules:
The English excerpt says:
Newly created Twitter accounts will not be able to subscribe to Twitter Blue for 90 days. We may also impose waiting periods for new accounts in the future, at our discretion, without notice.
Another restriction announced by Elon Musk also includes the loss of the verification seal if the name is changed. The only way to get the badge back is for Twitter to confirm that the new name does not violate the social network’s terms of service.
Unfortunately, Twitter does not clarify how it will treat new accounts after this change, but we hope this measure will help reduce misunderstandings with people pretending to be others.
After all, this is a risky strategy for Twitter, as Elon Musk has already made several changes in important policies of the social network, some of them resulting in mass layoffs.
