Elon Musk's plans for Twitter verification take a bizarre turn, with the promised purge of blue check marks seemingly targeted at one specific high-profile account. Instead of removing blue checks from most legacy verified users as previously announced, Twitter appears to have singled out one notable publication that Musk dislikes and altered the language on its site to obscure why users are verified.
Under Elon Musk's new verification system, which kicked off last month, paying $8 per month for Twitter Blue subscription service is required to stay verified. The change aimed to protect high-profile users from impersonation but has instead led to confusion among legacy blue check holders who found their verification marks had been appended with a label reading "This account is verified because it's subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account."
Most users have not lost their blue checks, but some, including the New York Times main account that refused to pay for verification, saw their coveted badges disappear. However, the newspaper's other accounts remained verified.
The weekend move appears to be more of a symbolic gesture by Musk than an actual policy change, with the billionaire often appearing to guide decisions on Twitter based on whims rather than clear policy. The label change makes it unclear whether verified accounts are notable individuals or simply users who have paid to join Twitter Blue.
In a related move, Twitter's blue bird logo was replaced with doge, the meme representing cryptocurrency dogecoin, which Musk has promoted, and the price of dogecoin surged 20% on Monday. This decision has sparked criticism, with many questioning why such a radical change was made without clear explanation.
Musk has been threatening to take away "legacy" blue check marks since shortly after buying Twitter last fall but relented when faced with opposition from prominent users. The new system aims to treat everyone equally, but experts warn that reserving verification for paid users could make it easier for scammers and bots to impersonate high-profile users.
The latest move is just the latest example of Twitter creating confusion among its users, a trend that has been prevalent under Musk's leadership.
Under Elon Musk's new verification system, which kicked off last month, paying $8 per month for Twitter Blue subscription service is required to stay verified. The change aimed to protect high-profile users from impersonation but has instead led to confusion among legacy blue check holders who found their verification marks had been appended with a label reading "This account is verified because it's subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account."
Most users have not lost their blue checks, but some, including the New York Times main account that refused to pay for verification, saw their coveted badges disappear. However, the newspaper's other accounts remained verified.
The weekend move appears to be more of a symbolic gesture by Musk than an actual policy change, with the billionaire often appearing to guide decisions on Twitter based on whims rather than clear policy. The label change makes it unclear whether verified accounts are notable individuals or simply users who have paid to join Twitter Blue.
In a related move, Twitter's blue bird logo was replaced with doge, the meme representing cryptocurrency dogecoin, which Musk has promoted, and the price of dogecoin surged 20% on Monday. This decision has sparked criticism, with many questioning why such a radical change was made without clear explanation.
Musk has been threatening to take away "legacy" blue check marks since shortly after buying Twitter last fall but relented when faced with opposition from prominent users. The new system aims to treat everyone equally, but experts warn that reserving verification for paid users could make it easier for scammers and bots to impersonate high-profile users.
The latest move is just the latest example of Twitter creating confusion among its users, a trend that has been prevalent under Musk's leadership.
I'm so confused about Elon Musk's new verification system on Twitter... like, isn't it just gonna make scams easier? 
I don't get it!
Can we just go back to the old bird thingy?
But seriously, this whole system feels super sketchy and confusing.
And don't even get me started on the whole doge thing... 
It's like he's trying to create more confusion than a Kardashian family reunion 
And I don't get why Twitter Blue has to be tied to verification... shouldn't it just be about who's notable or credible? 
This whole thing just feels like a big mess. 
idk why he would even do that, its just so random. anyway, i guess this is just another example of how things are not as clear cut on Twitter these days 
. i mean if someone is famous and has a blue check mark without paying for anything, what's up with that? 
. who even knows what that means anymore? 
. it feels like he just acts on his whims and hopes everyone else doesn't notice 
#twittersnafus
... I mean, come on Elon, if you're gonna mess with verification, at least be clear about it. This "we're treating everyone equally" BS just doesn't add up, especially after all the back-and-forth with legacy blue check holders. It's like he's trying to create a two-tier system, where those who pay up get special treatment 
& not actual policy 
like wut about the blue bird logo tho? did u see that change 2 doge 
i'm all for protecting high-profile users from impersonation, but this whole thing is a mess 
. This verification change thing? It's like they're trying to pull a fast one on us 
.
it's like Elon Musk thinks he's some kinda comedian or something 
. One minute you're verified, the next you're not because of some random label 
. This whole thing just feels like a bunch of nonsense 
twitter is getting so confusing rn 
it's like he's trying to create a whole new language on the platform where "verified" means "payed up" 
they should still be verified regardless of whether they're paying or not 
and can we please just have some clear explanations for once? 
this doge thing is just a joke, right? 
I mean, I know Musk loves his Dogecoin, but does he have to make us all suffer because of it too? 