Elon Musk confirms 'Twitter blue' service will be available 'probably by end of next week'

Ever since Twitter's new CEO, Elon Musk, rolled out paid subscription model, the platform has witnessed an unprecedented spike in fake accounts, resulting in the microblogging site pausing its 'Twitter Blue' services on Friday. However, on Sunday morning (Indian time), Musk again reiterated that the service might be available 'probably' in a week. "Probably end of next week," Musk replied to a user when asked, "When is Twitter Blue coming back?" The major development came nearly two days after Musk reportedly 'temporarily paused' its blue-check “verification” labels to anyone willing to pay $8 a month after the social media platform was flooded by a wave of imposter accounts it itself had approved.

Since Musk rolled out paid subscription mode, several companies including pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co lost millions of dollars as a notorious group tweeted that insulin was free. This forced the Indianapolis company to post an apology on its official social media account. Besides, Nintendo and Lockheed Martin, owned by Musk's own companies-- Tesla and SpaceX-- have also impersonated. Moreover, accounts of various professional sports and political figures were also impersonated.

Earlier on Friday, Musk warned the parody accounts to mention "parody" in their name, not just in their bio. "To be more precise accounts doing parody impersonations. Basically, tricking people is not okay," Musk said in a Twitter post on Friday morning (IST). Earlier, he had asserted that the microblogging platform would suspend the account permanently if it was found impersonating without clearly specifying "parody." However, this turned into a major headache for the advertisers who are responsible for 90% of the revenue of the platform. "They have created “overwhelming reputational risk for placing advertising investments on the platform,” Lou Paskalis, longtime marketing and media executive and former Bank of America head of global media told the news agency Associated Press. Adding that with the fake “verified” brand accounts, “a picture emerges of a platform in disarray that no media professional would risk their career by continuing to make advertising investments on, and no governance apparatus or senior executive would condone if they did.”

What is a Blue tick and why it is crucial for both user and the platform?

It is worth mentioning that the verification badge, which is often called a "blue tick" mark, is granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders, and journalists. Besides, the social media giant also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe. According to Twitter, it is essential to provide a verification badge to notable personalities in order to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people. Until now, the verification badge is free but now the world's richest man has confirmed the service will not be free and the users can avail if it has a phone and just $8 in their account to pay the price. 

Image: AP