Elon Musk Nixes 'Official' Label for Already Verified Twitter Accounts, Says Blue Check Will Be 'the Great Leveler' [Updated]

[MrMojo1]

That’s how it’s been since the minute he signed the deal to purchase Twitter. It’s why he desperately tried to get out of that deal, which of course he couldn’t do because he foolishly signed it without any due diligence beforehand.

Many people never knew or forgot that Elon publicly, in court documents, did Not perform any due diligence beforehand. It was a $44B deal so who forgoes doing due diligence?

Also, he could've paid the $1B termination fee but his Ego wouldn't allow it, nor his followers who'd hecker him for eternity for doing so. But it would've saved him $43B!
Now he's stuck with a social media company which apparently he doesn't want and doesn't know what to do with.
He's lost users and advertisers and implemented the monthly Blue check to help with the inward cashflow of revenue to help pay for his acquisition of Twitter.

Elon Musk sold $3.95 billion worth of Tesla stock since completing his purchase of Twitter late last month yesterday, according to CNN. Tesla stock is currently down.
Guess he needed some cash to finance Twitter.

 

[CarAnalogy]

This whole thing is a win/win. Either he actually improves it, or he totally nosedives it and it finally goes away. I see no downside.

 

[contacos]

Can you imagine being one of those workers? Work on something with ridiculous deadlines for a week, the amount of sleepless nights to get something done and then OH NEVERMIND.

 

[APlotdevice]

Steve Jobs changed his mind often and it worked out pretty well for him. Better than stubborn fools who refuse to change their minds even when new data shows they should.

Thing is he had new data months ago, and he did change his mind. He tried to get out of buying Twitter entirely. But it was too late by then, because he had already signed a binding contract. A contract he could have avoided if he had done the research beforehand.

 

[falkon-engine]

Tell Elon to Stick to EVs and Rockets bro.

 

[seek3r]

Is Elon a Mac user, or did I miss something?

If Facebook is the junkyard of the internet, Twitter is a base model AMC Hornet sedan sitting in the back of the lot with a missing engine and oily dirt underneath it.

And two missing tires, with the remaining tires having steel belts showing.

Outside anything else Twitter is where a lot of sources post initial rumors or leaks, so it’s relevant

This is actually fantastic. Equal access to the blue check mark.

Additionally, I welcome him taking swift action. He can proceed quickly and modify course based on feedback. Life is not perfect… and it’s not going to matter if Elon makes mistakes or backtracks along the way… he is someone who gets things done. Glad he is here shaking things up.

Really surprised to see so many people complaining here… 🤔

The point of the blue check is verification, not a status symbol, giving it to everyone who wants to pay 8 bucks obliterates the actual point

This implies that Twitter had a strategy prior to this. They've been bleeding the biggest users since 2020.

FWIW every social media platform has, 2020 was an abnormal spike because everyone was stuck in quarantine because of a rare massive pandemic…

 

[APlotdevice]

Can you imagine being one of those workers? Work on something with ridiculous deadlines for a week, the amount of sleepless nights to get something done and then OH NEVERMIND.

It almost sounds like a ploy to make them all quit so that Twitter doesn’t have to pay unemployment.

 

[xraydoc]

You don’t get to be the richest man in the world without knowing what you’re doing.

I agree with what he’s trying to do with the blue tick. There are far too many entitled people of Twitter that think they’re better than everyone else because they’ve been considered godlike enough to receive a blue tick. Making it a paid feature available to anyone puts it on a fair and level playing field.

The official label just makes a joke of the whole thing though. I don’t agree with that.

So how are we supposed to know that the American Express support person or the United Airlines Public Relations announcement is legit? If everyone's got a blue checkmark and anyone can name themselves anything they want (at least until someone at Twitter notices and cares), we'll have a hard time knowing if the new policy United Airlines just Tweeted or the announcement from the local police department just sent out is legitimate. Now you'll have to check multiple sources to see if something they said is verified or not. At least before, official sources with a checkmark could be trusted to at least be from who they claimed to be.

Now if the spokesperson from some institution or the Tweet from some politician can't be trusted to be authentic, Twitter has lost its value for a lot of people. I never used it to see what randos were saying, I used it to see what certain public figures were saying. Now who the hell knows if some new account is who they claim to be.

And if they think the "Official" tag is going to make that better (since they said it's not for individuals, anyway), then what the hell was the $8 checkmark for? Just a piece of flair on your user picture??

Twitter was already a s---show. This will just make it worse.

Maybe tomorrow Twitter will announce that blue checkmarks are $8, orange checkmarks are $13, and red checkmarks are $20. Everyone can pick the flair they like. BLM and Rainbow checks, however, will probably be priced at $1000 and come with fewer features than the free tier.

 

[PutTheFBackIn]

I guess I’m missing something, but why is everyone getting a blue check and identity verification mutually exclusive? If someone signs up for Twitter Blue, can they not still be required to show identification to get the blue check?

It just seems strange. I understand wanting to give everybody the blue check. But shouldn’t you actually have to verify yourself to get that check?

This whole thing is really confusing.

 

[mrmister]

"We don't know wtf he means, or if he really means things, or what will happen moment to moment."

 

[Robert.Walter]

Dude took the Twitter rocket ship and blasted way past his Peter Principle level.

 

[QuiteSharp]

Data Driven Development the Elon Musk way: if someone important enough doesn’t like your change, rechange the change.

 

[aloysiusfreeman]

I guess I’m missing something, but why is everyone getting a blue check and identity verification mutually exclusive? If someone signs up for Twitter Blue, can they not still be required to show identification to get the blue check?

It just seems strange. I understand wanting to give everybody the blue check. But shouldn’t you actually have to verify yourself to get that check?

This whole thing is really confusing.

There is no ID verification. All you do is pay with a credit card to buy a blue check. All it is is a soft paywall for a free site.

 

[BrownyQ]

Oh hey, so what I said in the previous thread came true!

The grey checkmark (or however it is visually represented) will only be for government entities or companies, not individual people. Feels fair to me; a company or governing body is not a person, and should be more easily distinguishable from persons using Twitter.

And no, them being a public figure of any kind is not enough to make them any more special than you or I.

 

[NY Guitarist]

How much does it cost to get a blue X ?

 

[aidler]

This is just rediculous....

 

[APlotdevice]

Oh hey, so what I said in the previous thread came true!

The grey checkmark (or however it is visually represented) will only be for government entities or companies, not individual people. Feels fair to me; a company or governing body is not a person, and should be more easily distinguishable from persons using Twitter.

And no, them being a public figure of any kind is not enough to make them any more special than you or I.

No, but there should be a way of distinguishing them from trolls and others pretending to be these individuals. The blue check wasn’t saying you were special. It was verifying that you were who you said you were. Musk took away its entire purpose.

 

[polaris20]

Struggling.....to......give......a.........****.....

 

[BrownyQ]

No, but there should be a way of distinguishing them from trolls and others pretending to be these individuals. The blue check wasn’t saying you were special. It was verifying that you were who you said you were. Musk took away its entire purpose.

Yes, Musk did dismantle the purpose of the verified check mark. Because the Twitter using community itself had dumbed down its meaning to the point that anyone with the right connections and the tiniest bit of clout could earn the mark and start using their blue badge as a megaphone for whatever ideology they wanted to echo into the blogosphere.

Now, it's just a pointless sticker, showing that you're shelling out money for the distinction.

I like what Musk has done with Twitter. He's taken it back down to just another social media site where everyone is on (more or less) equal footing, be they a nobody or a somebody. And it's absolutely hilarious to watch those who are so attached to the site spaz out over the changes.

 

[slb]

You don’t get to be the richest man in the world without knowing what you’re doing.

Being rich doesn't mean you're smart or competent. There are a lot of very incompetent rich people in the world.

I agree with what he’s trying to do with the blue tick. There are far too many entitled people of Twitter that think they’re better than everyone else because they’ve been considered godlike enough to receive a blue tick. Making it a paid feature available to anyone puts it on a fair and level playing field.

I don't know how you can think this. All it does is let scammers and spammers prioritize their posts in timelines and replies over non-paying plebs. It's not power to the people--it's power to the spammers.

 

[slb]

Yes, Musk did dismantle the purpose of the verified check mark. Because the Twitter using community itself had dumbed down its meaning to the point that anyone with the right connections and the tiniest bit of clout could earn the mark and start using their blue badge as a megaphone for whatever ideology they wanted to echo into the blogosphere.

One thing I'm noticing is that people who actually defend this change had ideological disagreements with Twitter users who had blue checkmarks previously, and I think that says everything.

Now, it's just a pointless sticker, showing that you're shelling out money for the distinction.

I like what Musk has done with Twitter. He's taken it back down to just another social media site where everyone is on (more or less) equal footing, be they a nobody or a somebody. And it's absolutely hilarious to watch those who are so attached to the site spaz out over the changes.

"Equal footing" = non-paying members get deprioritized while spammers gain prominence in timelines and replies. Sounds real great.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's on again, and it's off, and it's on, and it's off - but really on, and I give up! Glad I left that mess years ago.

Anyone else getting the idea that they don't know what they are doing? And Mastodon is struggling under the weight of the people jumping ship looking for a place to get their 'social media' on...

 

[Karma*Police]

Thing is he had new data months ago, and he did change his mind. He tried to get out of buying Twitter entirely. But it was too late by then, because he had already signed a binding contract. A contract he could have avoided if he had done the research beforehand.

Yes, well, I’m guilty of making similar impulsive mistakes as I’m sure most people on MR are as well.

But what sets him apart from the rest of us are his accomplishments. He’s not some one trick pony who got lucky like Zuck. The man is a genius and someone who obviously gets things done.

Starting a small business is no easy task. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult things anyone can do. Just ask all the corporate executives who’ve tried to run a small retail business and failed.

Yet, he’s started/built up several companies, created tens of thousands of jobs, and forever changed industries in the process. I think the man not only deserves, but has earned, the benefit of the doubt that he will eventually right the sinking ship that was Twitter. If he can’t, well, he’s still going to be worth more than all of us combined.

 

[jwdsail]

Twitter will not be moving forward with an "Official" label that would be used to identify companies, major media outlets, public figures, and others who are in danger of being impersonated on the social network, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said today.

Just hours after Twitter began rolling out the "Official" checkmark that was provided to some accounts alongside the standard white and blue verification badge, Musk said that he has "killed" the feature.

"Blue check will be the great leveler," Musk added in another tweet. The white checkmark on a blue background was traditionally provided to higher-profile accounts that went through a verification process, but with Musk's takeover of Twitter, the badge will be provided to all Twitter Blue subscribers who pay $7.99 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1590383539610324992

When the checkmark becomes available to any Twitter subscriber who pays, there will no longer be any kind of identity verification system on Twitter, which some users have expressed concerns about.

Twitter product executive Esther Crawford explained the two-badge system just yesterday, explaining that Twitter would add an "Official" label to select accounts. Government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers, and some public figures were going to be provided with the now-defunct "Official" label.

It is not clear if Twitter will implement some other method for differentiating between account types and providing identity verification, but it sounds like Musk will not allow such a feature. Musk has said that any Twitter handles "engaging in impersonation" without a clear parody label would be "permanently suspended," a move he enacted after verified users began changing their names to Elon Musk.

Update: Crawford now claims that the official label is still going out as part of the launch of Twitter Blue, but Twitter is focusing on "government and commercial entities to begin with. She says that what Musk meant is that Twitter is not focusing on giving the "Official" label to individuals. As of right now, though, the official labels that were provided to some accounts earlier today have been removed and have not been reinstated as of yet. There is no word on when the labels will return, nor if this is indeed what Musk meant.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1590388608359628800

Article Link: Elon Musk Nixes 'Official' Label for Already Verified Twitter Accounts, Says Blue Check Will Be 'the Great Leveler' [Updated]

What a freaking dumpster fire...

sigh

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

View attachment 2110636

Meta layoffs 2022: Facebook parent company laying off 11,000 employees, 13% of workforce

Facebook parent Meta is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce, as it contends with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday.

abc7.com

Does Zuck ever do anything on his own, or is he going to just be a follower all his adult life. Good grief...