Twitter reintroduces “Official” verification badge, two days after removing it
Twitter has today reintroduced its secondary “Official” verification badge, two days after it was initially launched and killed within hours by CEO Elon Musk.
The new “Official” verification badge is to represent authentic large-scale accounts on Twitter, after the original blue checkmark — which displayed next to the names of notable accounts that were verified through official authenticity checks — was made available to purchase without ID checks as part of the service’s Twitter Blue paid subscription.
Now that any paying user automatically recieves a blue checkmark, without any type of ID check, the previous blue badge used to represent genuinely authentic accounts is no longer a way to tell if an account is who they claim to be.
To combat impersonation, we’ve added an “Official” label to some accounts.
— Support (@Support) November 11, 2022
To fight impersination, Twitter has reintroduced its secondary “Official” verification badge, with the gray badge showing on accounts that have a mass following, such as large brands and organizations.
The move to sell blue badges has been heavily criticized by government officials, companies, brands, and influential individuals who see the decision by Twitter CEO Elon Musk to sell the orginal checkmark as irresponsible, putting many high-profile Twitter users who don’t quality for the secondary “Official” verification badge now at risk of impersonation and the spread of misinformation.
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