Twitter on Saturday launched a $7.99-a-month subscription service that includes a blue check that is now only given to verified accounts after new owner Elon Musk revamps the platform’s verification system just before the U.S. midterm elections.
In an update for Apple iOS devices, Twitter said users who “sign up now” can get the blue check next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.” So far, verified accounts don’t seem to be losing their checks.
Anyone who can get the blue check could lead to confusion and increased misinformation ahead of Tuesday’s election if fraudsters decide to pay for the subscription and choose the names of politicians and election officials. Along with the widespread layoffs that began Friday, many fear that the social platform that public agencies, election boards, police departments and news outlets use to keep people reliably informed could become illegal if content moderation and verification is removed.
The change represents the end of Twitter’s current verification system, which was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonation of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians. Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, many of them journalists from around the world that the company verified regardless of how many followers they had.
Experts have raised major concerns about the subversion of the platform’s verification system, which, while not perfect, has helped Twitter’s 238 million daily users determine whether the accounts they received information from were authentic. Current verified accounts include celebrities, athletes, influencers and other high-profile public figures, along with government agencies and politicians worldwide, journalists and media, activists and businesses and brands.
Twitter’s update to the iOS version of its app doesn’t mention verification as part of the new blue control system.
Musk, who has previously said he wants to “verify all people” on Twitter, has stated that public figures would be identified in ways other than a blue check. Currently, for example, government officials identify themselves with text under names that state they are posting from an official government account.
President Joe Biden’s @POTUS account, for example, says in gray letters that it belongs to a “United States government official.”
The change comes a day after Twitter began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies are banning ads on the platform as a wary corporate world waits to see how it will fare under its new owner.
About half of the company’s 7,500-person staff were let go, said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of security and integrity.
He said the company’s content moderator front-line staff were the group most affected by the job cuts and that “election integrity efforts — including harmful disinformation that can suppress voting and combating the information operations of supported by the state – remain a top priority”.
Co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey on Saturday took the blame for the numerous job losses. He had two stints as CEO of Twitter, with the most recent spanning from 2015 to 2021.
“I am responsible for why everyone is in this situation: I increased the size of the company too quickly,” he wrote on Twitter. “I apologize for that.”
Musk tweeted late Friday that he had no choice but to cut jobs “when the company is losing over $4 million a day.” He did not elaborate on the daily losses on Twitter and said the employees who lost their jobs were offered three months’ severance pay.
Meanwhile, Twitter has already seen “a massive drop in revenue” due to pressure from activist groups on advertisers to leave the platform, Musk tweeted Friday. This hits Twitter hard because of its heavy reliance until now on advertising to make money. During the first six months of this year, nearly $92 out of every $100 it earned came from advertising.
United Airlines on Saturday became the latest major brand to stop advertising on Twitter, confirming the move but declining to discuss the reasons for it or what it needs to see to resume advertising on the platform.
It joined the growing list of major companies banning ads on Twitter, including General Motors, REI, General Mills and Audi.
Musk tried to reassure advertisers last week, saying Twitter would not become a “free-for-all” because of what he called its commitment to free speech.
But concerns remain whether a lighter touch on content moderation on Twitter will result in users sending more offensive tweets. This can damage companies’ brands if their ads appear next to them.