Elon Musk introduced a new color-coded strategy for confirming accounts. Unfortunately, this manual procedure might burden the company’s shrinking workforce following an earlier attempt to modernize authentication that filled the platform with a chaotic stream of fake accounts.
Musk stated that Twitter’s new color-coded verification mechanism would be available on Friday, December 2.
“All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates,” he tweeted. “Painful, but necessary.”
Musk stated that Twitter will now manually authenticate accounts to avoid the flood of imposters that arose when the company opened up its verification badges to paying customers of the Twitter Blue subscription service.
Musk stated that the standard blue check mark currently used for all verified accounts would be replaced by a system of blue, gold, and grey ticks. Gold ticks will be distributed to confirmed business accounts, while grey ticks will be distributed to “government” accounts.
Musk claimed that blue checks will subsequently be granted to “all” verified individuals, celebrity or not because the limit of what qualifies noteworthy is “otherwise too subjective.”
Musk said that a “secondary tiny logo” could be added to an individual’s account to show they belong to an organization, promising a “longer explanation” on the system next week.
It is unclear whether users would be required to pay to be verified. However, Musk’s failed attempt earlier this month to alter the verification system opened up “verified” status to anyone willing to pay for Twitter’s premium service, Twitter Blue. The business awarded a blue checkmark to anyone who paid the $7.99 monthly charge but did not confirm account users’ identities, resulting in a flood of “verified” accounts impersonating others.
Musk highlighted manual verification as a “painful but necessary” step in avoiding fraud. However, given the massive layoffs and departure of employees since Musk took over in October, this approach will likely burden Twitter’s already overworked team.