Twitter's 'Official' checkmark rollout was a mess

The official checkmark is gone before it had time to be fully implemented. The grey tick was so hard to ignore that it quickly went away.

A celebrity, publication, or public figure was specified by the new label. The word "OFFICIAL" was spelled out with a grey checkmark. It did the job of the blue checkmark, which is why Musk is selling it off for $8 a month. The "OFFICIAL" label was a second tick of the original checkmark, which allowed for the sale of meaningless blue ticks to people who were willing to pay.

It would be a total disaster if someone had predicted it.

The new checkmark was in place before midday. The majority of American publications seemed to be called official. Some celebrities and public figures got grey checkmarks. It didn't seem to be planned. Two checkmarks on one account just doesn't make sense.

Tweet may have been deleted

(opens in a new tab)

Tweet may have been deleted

(opens in a new tab)

As soon as the new checkmark was announced, it disappeared. The job of deciding who got the check and who didn't was a tough one. All publications and people were stripped of their official badges hours after it was released. It is thought that Musk made the call.

Just over an hour after he posted his message, Brownlee's "OFFICIAL" Badge was gone.

"Blue check will be the leveler," Musk said.

Tweet may have been deleted

(opens in a new tab)

Musk may be recommitting to the idea that a blue tick will carry the same weight as a verification for a government official.

Soon after killing the "OFFICIAL" badges, Musk said that he would do a lot of dumb things in the future. We will keep the things that work and the things that don't.

Alright, so we can expect more stupidity.

Tim is a culture reporter at Mashable, where he writes about everything from food to fitness to weird stuff on the internet. He's posting a lot about Buffalo wings on the social networking site.