Surprise: Twitter is bringing its "Official" gray checkmark back from the dead and hitting pause on new sign-ups for blue checkmarks amid a wave of impersonation attempts.
Since Wednesday, users have been exploiting the company’s new Twitter Blue plan to buy a blue checkmark. This is has resulted in numerous "verified" but fake accounts claiming to be celebrities, government officials, and high-profile brands circulating pranks and misinformation.
One account posed as pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company and announced that insulin would be free. Fake, but verified, accounts for Tesla and Lockheed Martin pulled similar stunts.
Twitter has been trying to shut down the impersonation attempts. But the problem threatens to alienate the company’s biggest revenue source: advertisers. So Twitter seems to be backtracking from the whole venture, at least temporarily.
On Friday morning, Twitter’s official support account announced “To combat impersonation, we’ve added an ‘Official’ label to some accounts,” a mere two days after the company’s new owner, Elon Musk, seemingly killed off the feature. Since then, the gray checkmark has re-appeared on several accounts belonging to commercial brands.
At the same time, many US users say they can no longer sign up for a Twitter Blue subscription through the iOS version of the app. If you do see the option for Twitter Blue, tapping it will cause the app to merely say Twitter Blue isn’t available in your country.
The whole episode underscores the rocky state of Twitter since Musk took over the company. The Tesla CEO is trying to make Twitter a profitable company, prioritize free speech, and turn Twitter into a trusted, accurate source of information. But his efforts have so far led to mass layoffs, sparked concerns about the site’s integrity, and destabilized Twitter’s relationship with advertisers. On Thursday, several security executives at the company all resigned in a major blow to Twitter’s operations.
A legal officer at Twitter also warned in a leaked internal letter that under Musk’s leadership, Twitter is rushing out features without undergoing a security review. Doing so risks violating Twitter’s 2011 data privacy agreement with the FTC, which could result in billions in fines.
The financial situation at Twitter is also dire enough that Musk held a meeting with employees on Thursday where he warned the company could face bankruptcy unless it finds more revenue, according to The New York Times.
Despite the tumult, Musk on Thursday tweeted: “Usage of Twitter continues to rise. One thing is for sure: it isn’t boring!” He later added: “Hit all-time high of active users today.”