After much chaos and confusion, Elon Musk has decided to hold off the relaunch of the ‘Blue Verified’ badge for Twitter.
The Twitter boss said that he will be suspending the $8 subscription plan until there is high confidence in stopping impersonation.
He further indicated launching different colour checks for organisations which would be different from 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 (sic),” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.
The $8 plan was scheduled for a relaunch on November 29 after the earlier launch led to fake accounts getting the blue tick verification badge, forcing the company to withdraw the subscription model temporarily.
Thousands of such accounts were suspended as a result of personification, including that of comedian Kathy Griffin who had two million followers on the platform.
Since Musk took over, Twitter has been adding and then removing separate checkmarks on high-profile accounts. Though its purpose was not made clear, it was believed that the grey checkmark was rolled out in order to distinguish it from the blue checkmark, which can be bought by anyone.
Before announcing on Twitter, Musk held a meeting with the Twitter employees regarding the timing of the launch.
According to Verge, which obtained the recording of the meeting, Musk was said to be discussing the future of bluetick marks.
“Any given social media platform, in my view doesn’t matter what it is, is going to be vulnerable to bots and trolls unless there is some payment barrier to increase the cost of bots and trolls significantly,” he was quoted as saying.
He also told employees that Twitter was done with layoffs and hiring again, The Verge reported quoting the recording of the meeting.
Twitter France’s head quits amid layoffs
Meanwhile, Twitter Inc’s head of the French unit, Damien Viel, announced that he was quitting the social media platform, amid a flurry of layoffs and the sacking of top executives.
“It’s over,” Viel tweeted on Sunday, thanking his team in France.
He didn’t provide details about the reason for his departure or if any more layoffs are expected in France.
(With inputs from agencies)
