Elon Musk's paid Twitter verification is delayed, and unlabelled parody banned

The plan to put blue tick verification badges up for sale by Musk has reportedly been delayed. Unlabelled parody accounts are being banned by Musk.

According to the New York Times, paid verification will be launched one day after the elections. Musk had threatened to fire employees if they didn't meet the deadline for the update.

After employees and users voiced concern at the potentially devastating impact Musk's scheme could have on election integrity, paid verification's roll out was delayed. The ability to buy verification status would allow anyone to obtain a blue tick and use it to masquerade as high-profile figures, which in turn would allow them to publish on social media. The election could be undermined by this.

When Musk's changes do go live, there's a good chance that they'll become a dangerous hotbed of misinformation. This will be the last election in the U.S.

A group of verified users protested Musk's verification changes by showing how easy it is to impersonate someone. The artist changed his name and profile picture to make himself look like Harrison Ford, and then shared his fake account with his followers.

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Dozens of users have changed their usernames to make them sound like "Elon Musk (parody)", while verified accounts belonging to comedian Kathy Griffin, Mad Men actor Rich Sommer, and former NFL player Chris Kluwe have all been suspended after changing their display name and profile picture to match the

Musk said on Sunday that any account that impersonates someone else will be suspended. It's not clear if the account's name needs to be in the account's name or if a statement on its profile is enough.

There was a warning before the suspension but now there will be no warning. This will be a condition for signing up to the social network.

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The response relies on accounts being caught before they hurt anyone. It becomes even more ineffectual when you consider that Musk cut 50 percent of his workforce on Friday and that the platform's ability to respond to bad actors was greatly diminished. Dozens of the fired workers have been asked to come back, according to Platformer'sCaseyNewton, who reported that some had been let go by mistake.

A hard time distinguishing between an unlabelled parody account and the real thing is likely as identity verification may no longer be required. Even if you don't have a high profile, you could be torn apart by someone with $8 and a grudge.

"Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark, potentially putting an end to the longstanding tradition of spooky Halloween nicknames," said Musk. It's a pity that comedy isn't allowed on the social networking site.

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Musk is like a giant in that he doesn't know what he's doing. It wasn't a bastion of virtue before Musk took over. It fell in just over a week.