Elon Musk Gives Relief To Verified Twitter Users, For Now
Musk also hinted at a new strategy that will see the implementation of...
Marvin Chege 
Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Twitter boss has suspended the Twitter verification launch to allow for the issue of impersonation to be sorted out comprehensively.
Musk stated on Tuesday, November 22 that the launch that was set for Tuesday, November 29 was postponed, but did not provide the new date.
“Holding off the relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” he stated.
A screenshot of Twitter Verified account. /FILE
Musk also hinted at a new strategy that will see the implementation of different colour checkmarks to separate individual Twitter accounts and organizations.
“Will probably use different colour checks for organizations and individuals,” he added.
Despite the move, he remained defiant on fears of the app being shut down after 16 years of operations, noting that the number of active users has gone up.
“Twitter added 1.6 million daily active users this past week, another all-time high,” he noted.
The billionaire had previously announced the relaunch of the verification process after he suspended the subscription-based blue tick verification labels when Twitter users took advantage of it to get the coveted premium badge.
After the service was relaunched, a large number of fake verified accounts surfaced on Twitter, forcing it to change its plans.
Musk also issued an ultimatum to owners of accounts with unpaid blue badges, stating that “All unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months."
Users who have blue checkmarks will retain their status in exchange for Ksh971.60 (US$8) per month subscription service once it launches.
Verified users enrolled in the monthly subscription service will get priority in replies, mentions and searches, which is essential to defeating spam/scams. They will also have the ability to post long videos and audio and will get half as many adverts.
There will also be a paywall bypass for publishers willing to work with the social media platform.
"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," he added.
A grey checkmark displayed below the account's current verified 'blue' tick. /TWITTER.ESTHER CRAWFORD
