Nov 25 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc plans to launch its verified service next Friday with different colored checks for people, businesses and governments, after a botched initial launch led to a surge in users impersonating celebrities and brands on the platform
Chief Executive Elon Musk on Friday assigned colors for the categories: gold for companies, gray for governments and a blue check for individuals, including celebrities.
“Painful, but necessary,” he said, adding that verified accounts will be manually authenticated before a check is triggered.
The revamped $8-a-month service will allow people to have a smaller secondary logo of their organizations if they verify, he said in another tweet on Friday. “Next week a longer explanation.”
The social media platform delayed its relaunch on Monday to make it foolproof, as the service is expected to help Twitter boost revenue at a time when Musk is trying to retain advertisers after buying the company last month past $44 billion.
The subscription service, which Musk called a “great leveler,” was halted on Nov. 11 when fake accounts surfaced, forcing the world’s richest man to “official” badge some users.
For example, a user pretending to be drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co had tweeted that insulin would be free, sending the company’s shares tumbling and forcing it to apologise.
The turmoil prompted several companies, including General Motors ( GM.N ) and United Airlines ( UAL.O ), to pause or pull ads on the platform. User growth on Twitter, however, is at an all-time high, according to Musk.
Reporting by Akanksha Khushi and Aditya Soni in Bangalore; Edited by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Arun Koyyur
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