A sign at Twitter’s headquarters is seen in San Francisco, Friday, Nov. 4, 2022. Workers were bracing for widespread layoffs at Twitter on Friday as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the social platform. Twitter has announced a $7.99-a-month subscription service that includes a blue check now only given to verified accounts, as new owner Elon Musk works to overhaul the platform’s verification system ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. In an update for Apple iOS devices available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Twitter said users who “sign up now” for the new “Twitter Blue with Verification” can get the blue check next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow”. However, Twitter employee Esther Crawford tweeted on Saturday that “the new Blue isn’t live yet – our release sprint continues, but some people may see us making updates because we’re testing and pushing changes in real life. time”. Verified accounts don’t seem to be losing their checks so far. It was not immediately clear when the subscription would be released, and Crawford did not immediately respond to a message to clarify the timeline. Twitter also did not immediately respond to a message for comment. Whoever can get the blue check could lead to confusion and an increase in misinformation ahead of Tuesday’s election, but Musk tweeted Saturday in response to a question about the risk of fraudsters impersonating verified people — such as politicians and election officials — that “Twitter will suspend the account attempting impersonation and keep the money!” “So if the scammers want to do this a million times, that’s just a bunch of free money,” he said. But many fear the sweeping layoffs that began Friday could break down the guardrails of moderation and content verification on the social platform that public agencies, election boards, police departments and news outlets use to keep people reliably informed. The change will represent the end of Twitter’s current verification system, which was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonation of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians. Before the planned overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, many of them journalists from around the world, which the company verified regardless of how many followers they had. Experts have raised serious concerns about the rollback of the platform’s verification system that, while not perfect, helped Twitter’s 238 million daily users determine whether the accounts they received information from were authentic. Current verified accounts include celebrities, athletes, influencers and other high-profile public figures, along with government agencies and politicians worldwide, journalists and news agencies, activists and businesses and brands, as well as Musk himself. “He knows the blue check has value, and he’s trying to take advantage of it quickly,” said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University associate professor of communication and social media expert. “He has to earn people’s trust before he can sell them anything. Why would you buy a car from a seller who you know has essentially turned out to be a mess?” The update Twitter made to the iOS version of its app doesn’t mention verification as part of the new blue check system. As of now, the update is not available on Android devices. Musk, who earlier said he wants to “verify all people” on Twitter, argued that public figures would be identified in ways other than a blue check. Currently, for example, government officials are identified in text with names that indicate they are posting from an official government account. President Joe Biden’s @POTUS account, for example, says in gray letters that it belongs to a “United States government official.” The change comes a day after Twitter began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies halt advertising on the platform as a wary corporate world waits to see how it will fare under its new owner. About half of the company’s 7,500-strong workforce has been laid off, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of security and integrity, said on Twitter. He said the company’s first content coordinator was the group least affected by the job cuts and that “election integrity efforts — including harmful disinformation that can suppress voting and combating information operations supported by state – remain a top priority.” Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday took responsibility for the widespread job losses. He had two runs as CEO of Twitter, with the most recent spanning from 2015 to 2021. “I’m responsible for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the size of the company too fast,” he tweeted. “I apologize for that.” Musk tweeted late Friday that he had no choice but to cut jobs “when the company is losing over $4 million a day.” He did not elaborate on the daily losses on Twitter and said the employees who lost their jobs were offered three months’ severance pay. Meanwhile, Twitter has already seen a “massive drop in revenue” due to pressure from activist groups on advertisers to leave the platform, Musk tweeted on Friday. This hits Twitter hard because of its heavy reliance so far on advertising to make money. In the first six months of this year, nearly $92 out of every $100 in revenue came from advertising. United Airlines on Saturday became the latest major brand to stop advertising on Twitter, confirming the move but declining to discuss the reasons for it or what it would need to see to continue advertising on the platform. It became part of a growing list of major companies to stop advertising on Twitter, including General Motors, REI, General Mills and Audi. Musk tried to reassure advertisers last week, saying Twitter would not become a “free-for-all” because of its commitment to free speech. However, concerns remain about whether a lighter touch on content moderation on Twitter will result in users sending more offensive tweets. This could damage companies’ brands if their ads appear alongside them.
