Twitter adds 'official' mark to high profile, corporate verified accounts
2 min read . Updated: 09 Nov 2022, 09:09 PM IST
PremiumTwitter has begun adding grey ‘official’ labels to some high-profile accounts to indicate that they are authentic
The latest development in Twitter's disorganised overhaul of the platform's verification system under new owner Elon Musk is the addition of grey "official" labels to some high-profile accounts to denote their authenticity.
On Wednesday, companies like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola as well as media outlets like The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal received an official designation.
For users who don't pay a monthly fee, the site's current method of using "blue checks" to verify an account's authenticity will soon end.
Anyone who is willing to pay a $7.99 monthly subscription will have access to the checkmarks at a later date. This subscription will also come with extra benefits like fewer advertisements and the ability to have tweets from subscribers receive more visibility than those from non-subscribers.
The platform's current verification process, which was developed to make sure high-profile and publicly visible accounts are who they claim to be, has been in place since 2009.
The availability of the checkmark to anyone for a fee has raised concerns among experts who fear that it may encourage impersonations, the dissemination of false information, and scams. The grey label is an obvious compromise because it tends to blend into the background whether you scroll through Twitter in light or dark mode.
The less obvious "official" designation might cause more confusion, as Twitter users used to the blue check as a sign of authenticity will now need to look for it.
The "official" tag will be added to "select accounts" when the new system launches, according to Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee who has been working on the verification overhaul.
“Not all previously verified accounts will get the 'Official' label and the label is not available for purchase," said Crawford, who recently was the subject of a viral photo showing her sleeping on the floor of a Twitter office while working to meet Musk's deadlines.
Government accounts, for-profit businesses, business partners, significant media outlets, publishers, and some public figures are among those receiving the label, according to Crawford.
The current system contains about 423,000 verified accounts. Many of those are the property of public figures, corporations, government agencies, and media organisations.
However, a sizable portion of verified accounts are those of individual journalists, some of whom have modest audiences at regional newspapers and news websites all over the world. It was intended to verify journalists so that false information could not be spread on Twitter using their identities.
Musk had previously proposed using a method other than the blue check when designating official accounts.
(With inputs from PTI)
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