Twitter quietly drops $8 paid verification; “tricking people not OK,” Musk says

When a wave of fake accounts began using the verified checkmarks from the Blue paid subscription service, it created so much chaos that Musk had no choice but to take the paid checkmarks away.

Musk said that tricking people is not ok, as some users began reporting that the option to pay for a blue subscription had vanished, while others who had been verified previously found that their blue checkmarks had been restored.

Due to the lack of a communications department, it's difficult to verify if paid verification is still available on some accounts. "An update on what we did tonight: hid the entry point to Twitter Blue, added the 'official' label for only advertisers," said the message that was posted in the social media platform. It is possible for users to sign up for Blue here. Users of Legacy Blue can upgrade to a subscription. Blue subscribers will have access to their features.

Jane Manchun Wong was one of the people who asked about the status of the app.

Musk had previously tried to fight impersonation by rolling out official labels for companies, organizations, and notable people, but when that didn't work, he "killed" the labels.

Musk believed that the checkmark could be sold to half of the users of the service, so he came up with the idea of a new blue checkmark. He joked that part of his strategy was taking easy money from people who wanted to impersonate accounts. If an account isn't clearly labeled "parody" in the name, it will be suspended and no refunds will be given.

The owner of an account called "gaslabu", which has 75 followers and is paid to be verified by Twitter Blue, responded to Tom Warren, "The beauty of this is each account that gets." The account is suspended and the money is kept. I hope more people do this. It is free money for the social networking site. Musk replied togaslabu with a bunch of things, including a money bag, a bullseye, and sunglasses.

If Musk's strategy was to boost profits by charging and suspending fake accounts, it didn't work out. As he works out what works and what doesn't, Musk expects to put users through a lot of trial and error.

The billionaire is portraying himself as laughing along with the people who are sharing his hilarious parody accounts.

Musk knows that not every user on the social networking site has been posting "epically funny" jokes. One of the most disturbing fake posts yesterday was an account pretending to be Eli Lilly and telling people with diabetes that they don't need to use the drug anymore. The brand had to apologize after the fake account was used to spread false information. According to Musk, this is the place where he draws the line. Soon after, the jokes resumed, with another fake account mimicking the official Eli Lilly account, using the same wording to mock the brand for charging $400 for itsinsulin.

It seems that the only way to end the spiral was to stop paying verification, but it's hard to believe that Musk has regained control of the platform.

Yoel Roth, the top executive in charge of Twitter integrity, left the company yesterday. As of Thursday night, Robin Wheeler said she was still here, despite rumors that she had resigned. Musk is continuing to say that everything is fine and that users are logging on at all-time highs.