Criticized from all sides after an intense first week at the helm of Twitter, Elon Musk defended tooth and nail his star projects this weekend, including the upcoming launch of a paid subscription for users who want the famous blue brand of authentication.
A blue mark, guarantee of authenticity
The billionaire fights to reassure associations, advertisers and even the United Nations, which fear a wave of hate speech and misinformation on the network, especially after he fired half of the group’s employees on Friday, November 4.
Until now, eligible accounts (governments, media, political and cultural figures, etc.) could get a blue tick added to their profile, as a guarantee of authenticity.
As soon as he acquired Twitter ten days ago, the Tesla boss released a revision of this system, so everyone could get the famous badge and other handy tools by subscribing to “Twitter Blue” for $8 a month.
On the iPhone, the social network’s mobile application already mentions the arrival of the new formula, but its launch has been postponed for Wednesday, the day after the US parliamentary elections, according to the New York Times.
But for many observers, the certification of accounts should allow to guarantee the authenticity of the exchanges on the platform. They fear in particular the irruption of false certified accounts.
“It’s our mission”
“Any name change will cause a temporary loss of the blue mark,” he added.
He also mentioned that pseudonyms were still allowed as long as they were not looking to “mislead with malicious intent”, and discussed creating a different brand for public figures.
“And to do that, I’ll let anyone give me money to appear as a legitimate source of information, instead of ensuring that all legitimate sources of information are properly authenticated,” one user replied.
“You illustrate the problem,” Elon Musk replied. “Journalists who believe they are the only legitimate source of information, that is the big lie.”
Source: BFM TV
