Elon Musk removes ‘official’ card hours after release

(CNN) – A new verification tag aimed at better acquaintance with prominent accounts on Twitter has become the latest chapter in the general chaos that pervades the company under the leadership of its new owner, Elon Musk.

Just hours after the feature came out, Musk suddenly announced on Wednesday that he had “killed” a new gray verification badge designed to tag government accounts, major brands and the media, adding to the turmoil at one of the world’s most influential social media companies.

The new badge, consisting of a gray checkmark and the word “official” placed below the identifiers of Twitter, United Nations and media accounts including CNN, was first implemented Tuesday night.

The feature was created to distinguish between “select” verified accounts and the blue check marks that Twitter said will be charging $8 a month soon, tweeted Esther Crawford, the company’s director of product management.

The new badge appeared early Wednesday morning. But by the end of the morning, users started noticing the badge was gone.

“I just got rid of” (from the poster), Musk tweeted in response to a tweet about the sudden disappearances. “Keep in mind that Twitter is going to do a lot of stupid things in the coming months. We’ll keep what works and change what doesn’t.”

Minutes later, Crawford was forced to clarify what Musk was referring to.

“The ‘official’ tag still exists as part of the TwitterBlue launch – we will only target government and commercial entities initially,” Crawford wrote on Twitter. “What he brought up is the fact that we are not going to focus on giving people an ‘official’ title at this time.”

Despite this, NASA, CNN and the United Nations, among others, were stripped of their “official” tags on Wednesday afternoon, sparking public confusion.

The real-time experience reveals Musk’s improvised management style, which he applied across the company in his early weeks as an owner.