The Californian social network began rolling out a new “Official” badge on Wednesday. An option canceled and then confirmed again a few hours later.
Announced, canceled and then reconfirmed. Twitter installed on October 9 a gray badge “Official“. Located under a user’s identifier, it certifies the identity of the account owner. It is supposed to make a distinction between anonymous subscribers to the Blue subscription and personalities whose official character has been verified by the platform. Indeed, several users fear that the paid subscription will devalue the guarantee of authenticity of the blue tick by making it accessible to those who agree to pay 8 dollars per month. Many American celebrities, who disagreed with the new verification rule, had changed their name to Elon Musk on the platform. The accounts were later suspended.
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The installation took place after several twists and turns and notorious chaos. Elon Musk, the whimsical owner of the social network tweeted on Wednesday morning that he had it “deleted». «The blue tick will put everyone on the same leveladded the billionaire.
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A change of tune announced on the platform by Esther Crawford, product manager in the launch phase. “We’re just starting with governments and commercial organizations. What Elon Musk mentioned was the fact that we are not giving the Official badge to individuals at this time”, she clarified. However, if the accounts of the FigaroAFP or Le Monde had received the crest on Wednesday afternoon “Official” before it disappeared, the likes of Kanye West also got theirs. “Elon wants to try a lot of things – some will fail, some will succeed. The goal is to find the right combination of changes to ensure the long-term health and growth of the business.“tried to justify Esther Crawford.
The launch of Twitter Blue, went unnoticed
What about Twitter Blue? The paid subscription giving access to new features and blue certification for $7.99 was launched on November 9, without anyone noticing. It must allow, according to the leader, to fight against false profiles and automated accounts. Malicious actors will have to spend eight dollars each time, and have as many credit cards as accounts they want to create.
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Far from there “vigorous quest for truth” advocated by Elon Musk, it is currently impossible to distinguish at first glance an official certified account from a Twitter Blue profile. Click on the dot to obtain details on the origin of the certification: subscription or authentication. A system that blurs the tracks a little more and that complicates the task of users looking for reliable sources. In recent hours, many Twitter users have been able to win the precious blue sesame for a fee. A certified fake George W. Bush account has emerged. Another impostor, certified in the name of LeBron James, meanwhile posted a false announcement about the player, with a departure from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ironically, on Wednesday evening, Elon Musk’s account still had the old blue mark, awarded free for his “notoriety».
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