TWITTER VERIFICATION PROCEDURE STILL QUESTIONABLE WITH TWISTS AND TURNS
Elon Musk’s tenure as owner and CEO of Twitter has brought significant changes to the platform. But the latest drama involves the blue checkmark Twitter uses to identify legitimate verified accounts. At first, the check symbolized a verified and noteworthy identity, but users soon figured out how to abuse it by impersonating prominent accounts. In response, Musk allowed anyone to buy a blue checkmark for $8 by subscribing to Twitter Blue.
Unfortunately, this solution created additional problems for users to distinguish real accounts from fake ones. While Twitter tried to clean up the rogue use of the system, Musk killed their efforts to roll out a white checkmark for verified accounts that lived underneath the user’s name. Twitter then assigned different colored checkmarks for various individuals and organizations, but these were not well received either.
Based on the new system, no one could respect someone who pays for their verification. Recently, Twitter has edited this label to be the same across all blue check accounts, which further complicates the situation. Now, there is no way to tell whether a blue check account is real or an impersonator paying $8 to steal their identity.
Although this preposterous change makes Twitter look unprofessional, a new extension called « Eight Dollars » may still help users. Available on the Chrome Web Store, the extension replaces the blue checkmark with a « Verified » or « Paid » badge. Use it to ensure the verified « person » who tweeted something is who they say they are. This will be especially important for smaller-scale celebrities and notable people who may not have as many followers.
Overall, Twitter’s new verification system may be too flawed to recognize legitimate accounts accurately, creating an increasing number of concerns for users.