Twitter has delayed the rollout of its highly coveted paid blue check verification mark until after the US midterm elections, per a report by CNN. The publication said a source privy to the knowledge confirmed the decision to it.
The decision, if true, comes a couple of days after Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter announced that the platform had launched an updated version of its iOS app which allowed users to pay a monthly subscription fee and receive the blue checkmark on their profiles.
As reported by WION, the iOS notification listed “half the ads,” the option to submit longer videos to Twitter, and priority ranking for quality content as other advantages of the paid verification.
At the time of the launch of the updated version, media reports stated that the service will be available to Twitter users in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
After Musk announced his decision, several Hollywood celebrities tried to use the loophole of changing their names. However, Musk on Sunday said parody Twitter accounts will be “permanently suspended” if they do not specify ‘Parody’ in their bio.
Comedians Kathy Griffin and Sarah Silverman, and Australian satirical website the Chaser are among the accounts already known to be locked or suspended as a result, according to reports.
“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended,” Musk tweeted.
Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2022
Read more: Elon Musk issues warning to Twitter parody account users
“Previously, we issued a warning before the suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” he said in a thread.
Trying to defend his bans, Musk tweeted that his commitment to free speech “extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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