Elon Musk has said Twitter is pausing paid verifications after users were found to be impersonating people and brands.
The $7.99 ($6.73) a month Twitter Blue subscription service allowed people to pay for a verified blue check mark, which was previously only available to people who were “notable in government, news, entertainment or another designated category”.
The service was temporarily suspended earlier this month after accounts were pretending to be notable figures, while some celebrities even posed as Musk himself including Sarah Silverman and Kathy Griffin.
While the Tesla boss last week said the Twitter Blue subscription would be available again on November 29, he’s now said the relaunch will be delayed further.
“Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk wrote on Twitter in the early hours of this morning (November 22).
“Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.”
Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation.
Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2022
The SpaceX founder bought Twitter last month for $44billion (£29billion), and has since made a series of drastic changes to leadership and the platform itself.
Last week, he told Twitter staff to “work long hours at high intensity” or leave, which saw hundreds of employees depart in addition to the mass layoffs the tech mogul has made. Rumours of the platform’s collapse followed shortly after, as people were urged to archive their tweets.
This week, Musk allowed Donald Trump to return to Twitter after he posted a poll after asking users on the social media platform if they thought the former US President should be reinstated.
He did, however, rule out any chance of alt-right figure and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones returning to Twitter.
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