Elon Musk holds off on Twitter Blue Verified relaunch

Billionaire Elon Musk has said he would be holding off on Twitter Blue Verified relaunch until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation.

The Twitter Blue verification feature was scheduled for relaunch on the 29th of November after its suspension due to a rise in fake impostor accounts.

The Twitter CEO also said that he is considering the use of different colour checks for organisations and individuals. Currently it is blue for all accounts. Elon had tested a grey “official” designation beneath high-profile accounts, though that feature has been turned on and off multiple times since it was first rolled out.

Elon Musk had great plans for the Twitter blue verification service setting an $8 a month fee for the service. He said the company was losing money and this was one of the ways it sought to increase revenue.

However when the $8 verification service was launched, the social media platform became flooded with people creating impostor accounts and acquiring checkmarks cheaply. Many of these impostor accounts were used to impersonate brands, politicians and celebrities with uncomplimentary messages.

As he works on getting this service back on track, Elon tweeted that the social media platform added 1.6 million active users this past week, an all-time high showing that it was still attracting attention even though it was being castigated from all quarters.

The company has been on a retrenchment exercise, laying off as many as about 50% of its staff and it is still letting go of employees. Last week, he issued an ultimatum to Twitter employees to sign a pledge to work harder for a new “hardcore” Twitter or leave the company with 3 months severance pay.

Interestingly, many Twitter employees opted to take severance rather commit to “hardcore” Twitter much to his chagrin.

Twitter users are also leaving the platform to seek for alternatives such as mastodon and Hive. Hive says it is seeing a boost in sign-ups in response to the upheaval at Twitter, hitting 1 million users after surge in sign-ups.