Twitter announces a premium subscription for $8 per month that includes a blue check for verified accounts

Twitter Advertise your subscription service 8 dollars Month which includes a blue check mark So far, it has only been awarded to Verified accountsWhile its new owner, Elon Muskrenew the platform verification system before US midterm elections.

in update for Apple iOS devices Available in United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United KingdomTwitter said users who “Sign Up Now” will be able to receive a blue check mark next to their name, “just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”

However, Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee, tweeted on Saturday that “The new blue is not available yet; The race continues until our release, but some people may see that we’re making updates as we’re testing and pushing changes in real time.” Verified accounts don’t seem to be losing their marks just yet.

The possibility of anyone getting a blue check mark could lead to confusion and an escalation of misinformation ahead of Tuesday’s election, but Musk tweeted Saturday in response to a question about the risks of fraudsters impersonating verified profiles, such as politicians and election officials, that “twitter will suspend the account for trying to phish and keep the money“.

“If scammers want to do it a million times, it’s just a bunch of free money,” he said.

However, many fear that the large-scale layoffs that began on Friday could affect Content verification and moderation system The social platform used by public agencies, electoral boards, police departments, and the media to keep residents informed.

The change would bring an end to Twitter’s current verification system that was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians. before the change Twitter had about 423,000 verified accountsMany of them are journalists around the world who have been verified by the company no matter how many followers they have.

Experts have raised serious concerns about changing the platform’s verification system, which, while not perfect, has helped Twitter’s 238 million daily users determine if the accounts they received information from were correct. The Verified accounts Among the current figures are celebrities, athletes, and influencers, as well as government agencies, politicians from around the world, journalists, media outlets, activists, companies and brands, and Musk himself.

“He knows the blue check mark has value and he’s trying to quickly exploit it,” said Jennifer Greigel, a professor of communication at Syracuse University and an expert on social media. “You need to earn people’s trust before you can sell something to them.“.

Twitter’s update to the iOS version of the app does not mention verification as part of the new “blue check mark” scheme. Until now, The update is not available on Android devices.

Musk, who previously said he wanted to “verify all humans” on Twitter, claimed that public figures They will be recognized in a way other than the blue tick. Currently, for example, government officials are identified by text below their name indicating that they are posting from an official government account.

US President’s accountPOTUS Joe Bidenfor example, indicates in gray letters that it belongs to a “US government official”.

Lewis Hamiltonseven times Formula One champion and who has it 7.8 million followers on Twitterhe said to AP: “I can only delete my Twitter account, never use it. I find it very healthy to delete it social networks off my phone for periods of time.”

“But it’s also a really powerful tool for connecting with people, so I appreciate it and try to use it as such and it’s not something that takes me off the path I’m on in life,” he added.

The announcement was made a day after the start of the company Lay off employees to cut costs And as more companies pause their Twitter ads, they wait for how the platform will operate under the supervision of its new owner.

about half 7,500 Twitter employees have been laid offYoel Roth, Chief Security and Integrity Officer tweeted.

He said the company’s frontline content moderators were the group least affected by the cuts and that “efforts at election integrity – including harmful disinformation that can suppress voting and combating government-backed information operations – remain a top priority”.

Twitter co-founder Joe Dorsey Saturday took the blame for those shootings.

“I am responsible for the situation everyone is going through: the company has developed very quickly,” he wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “I apologize for that.”

Musk tweeted Friday evening that he had no choice but to cut those jobs, “while The company loses $4 million a dayHe did not give details of the company’s daily losses, saying that employees who lost their jobs were offered Three months end of service gratuity.

He also said that Twitter recorded “a Huge drop in income“As advertisers face pressure from activists to leave the platform that relies heavily on advertising to make money.

United Airlines It became the latest major brand to temporarily suspend its ads on Twitter on Saturday, joining companies like GM, REI, General Mills and Audi.

Musk tried to reassure advertisers last week that Twitter wouldn’t turn into “everyone’s hell” because of what he calls his commitment to free speech.

(With information from The Associated Press)

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