Twitter Inc. plans to release its verified service next Friday, with different colored checks for people, businesses, and governments. This is because of a problem with the first launch that led to more people pretending to be celebrities and brands on the platform.
On Friday, CEO Elon Musk assigned colors to each category: gold for businesses, grey for governments, and blue check for individuals (including celebs).
He described the process as “painful but necessary,” noting that verified accounts would require human authentication before receiving a check.
In another tweet on Friday, he explained that the updated $8 per month service would let verified users show a second, smaller logo for their organizations. “More details next week,” they promised.
The social media platform postponed its relaunch on Monday to ensure its reliability, as the service is expected to boost Twitter’s revenue at a time when Musk is attempting to retain advertisers following his $44 billion purchase of the company last month.
Musk called the subscription service a “great leveler,” but on November 11, it was temporarily suspended due to the proliferation of fake accounts; this prompted the billionaire to reinstate the “official” badge for some users.
For instance, Eli Lilly and Co. had to issue an apology after a user pretending to be the pharmaceutical giant tweeted that its insulin was going to be given away for free.
Due to the uncertainty, many advertisers, like General Motors (GM.N) and United Airlines (UAL.O), temporarily stopped or cut back on their spending on the platform. However, Musk claims that Twitter is experiencing record user growth.
