Elon Must has added a new chapter to the long and confusing verification saga of his ownership of Twitter. For those unfamiliar with the platform’s recent changes, Musk purchased the platform in April 2022, after a lengthy period of trying to get out of his own offer to purchase 100% of the shares at well above their value. The market value of Tesla dropped by over $100 billion in response to his bid to purchase Twitter, which some estimates say he paid double the value for.
Since acquiring the platform, Musk had inundated it with bizarre and erratic policy changes, usually announced directly from his own Twitter account rather than through any official means. He laid off huge portions of the company’s staff, relaxed content moderation, and re-instated accounts previously banned for spreading hate speech. At the same time, Musk regularly engaged with right-wing figures and denigrates left wing politicians and ideologies to his millions of followers.
But no interference has been as confusing, or as concerning, as his meddling with the verification system. Twitters blue tick system has always denoted a verified account, usually for a business, brand, celebrity, or public figure. But soon after buying the platform Musk announced that it would become a paid subscription, prompting mockery from those pointing out that selling verification ticks nullifies the point of having verified accounts at all.
The saga was long and, in typical Musk style, wrought with mercurial decision making and last minute policy U-turns. First the verification cost would be $20 a month, then £8 a month. Then businesses and public figures would get coloured ticks to denote their verification while the famous blue tick would be sold to anyone with $8, leaving the system wide open to abuse by those wishing to spread disinformation.
Musk has now upped himself once again by crumbling at the last minute and returning the verification blue tick to many celebrities and companies who have refused to pay his subscription fee, even identifying them as fully paid subscribers. This has caused outcry from several prominent figured who refused to pay and did not wish to be labelled as though they had.
Musk seems intent on destroying any and all prestige and legitimacy that came with the Twitter bluetick, instead replacing with a capitalist pay to win system that sees users purchase preferential treatment by the platform. It remains to be seen how these changes may affect upcoming elections, but one thing is certain: the spreading of misinformation, lies, propaganda, and hateful ideologies on Twitter is far easier and more common now that we have Elon at the helm.