On Thursday, Elon Musk’s Twitter began removing the blue verification marks from the accounts of journalists, academics, and celebrities who had not subscribed to the company’s subscription service.
Musk, on the other hand, has previously stated that implementing changes to Twitter’s verification process would result in “equal treatment for all.”
In a previous tweet, he stated, “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities.” The blue checks even vanished from the accounts of some of the most well-known and widely followed individuals on the social network. These individuals include Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Bill Gates, Pope Francis, former President Donald Trump, and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The paid feature could also drive Reve
Some administration organizations — including the authority representing US Citizenship and Movement Administrations and records for a few state Customs and Boundary Watch workplaces — likewise lost their blue checks, which weren’t promptly supplanted by the dark checks Twitter has assigned for government accounts.
Blue checks appeared
to disappear and reappear on some accounts during the initial rollout of the change, which appeared to be rather shaky. At least initially, some other prominent legacy verified accounts did not appear to lose their checks.
The change and its baffling rollout run the risk of increasing the likelihood of high-profile users being impersonated and causing confusion regarding the accuracy of the platform’s information.
In a tweet on Thursday, the government agency stated, “Though we have lost our checkmark, this is the official USCIS Twitter account.” Please be cautious of fake accounts.
Some prominent users who run the risk of being copied on the website may also be discouraged from using the platform by the move. Some users began tweeting that they planned to leave the site as soon as legacy blue checks disappeared.
On April 1, Twitter had previously stated that it would “begin winding down” blue checks granted under its previous verification system, which placed an emphasis on safeguarding prominent users from impersonation. Musk stated that users would have to join the platform’s Twitter Blue subscription service, which has allowed accounts to pay for verification since December, in order to remain verified. To join the service, users would have to pay $8 per month.
Instead, Twitter changed the language on its website to make it harder to understand why users are verified and took the check mark off of just one account from The New York Times, a publication that Musk has repeatedly criticized.
Musk’s post
Last week, Musk posted on Twitter that the “final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20,” which is a date that has particular significance to the billionaire entrepreneur because of what it means to fans of marijuana.
The decision to proceed with the change is just the latest example of how Musk’s Twitter is disrupting the user experience. In this instance, not just any users, but many of the most well-known accounts have long been a key selling point for the platform.
The idea that prominent users, such as actor William Shatner and anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, who draw attention to the site, should be required to pay for a feature that protects them from impersonation, has previously been refuted. Before the check marks went away on Thursday, Lewinsky said in a tweet that she would also leave the platform after the change. nue. This could help Musk, who has a lot of debt because he bought Twitter for $44 billion.
complaints
After making numerous complaints about the number of bots that are present on the platform, Musk has also suggested that requiring users to pay for verification could aid in the elimination of spam and fraudulent accounts. The plan, according to experts in online inauthentic behavior, is unlikely to deter bad actors, who could just as easily pay to be verified, them.
Samuel Woolley, who is an assistant professor at the University of Texas School of Information and the author of the book “Bots,” stated to CNN in November, “In fact, this is making Twitter a pay-for-play system, and we know that propagandists, people working to spread disinformation and other forms of manipulation via Twitter, are very much willing and able to finance their operations.” Woolley is the author of the book “Bots.”
“The greater part of the disseminators that web-based entertainment organizations are most stressed over, similar to the Russian government, the Chinese government, radical gatherings, have a ton of assets,” he said.