'I just killed it': Elon Musk's Twitter rolls back 'Official' badge just hours after rollout

Twitter rolled out a new feature called 'Official' badge on Wednesday. The aim of the badge was to notify if a user was verified or not. Many prominent Twitter handles were seen with the 'Official' badge under their name. However, Twitter has rolled back the feature as it just went on to create more confusion than clarity. Elon Musk, the new Twitter chief also tweeted about it after the feature was rolled back. 

In response to a Tweet about the 'Official' badge, Musk said, "I just killed it." He further went on to put more emphasis on the blue tick, saying that "Blue check will be the greater leveler." 

I just killed it

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022

Many prominent Twitter accounts, including that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had started reflecting the new 'Official' badge right under their name. The blue check mark also continued to show. Earlier, during the day Twitter's early-stage products executive Esther Crawford put out a series of tweets explaining the new 'Official' badge and how it will be different from the Blue Check. She had claimed that while the Official badge will mean the account belongs to some notable person, the blue tick was just an indicator that the account is subscribed to Twitter Blue.

This created confusion as Twitter did not clearly mention how they will verify the thousands of Twitter blue checkmark holders. Failing to do so, would have also led to a spike in users impersonating a popular account.

Elon's statement that "Blue check will be the greater leveler" hints at a more unified approach to the entire verification process. Additionally, if the Blue Tick does not indicate that the user is verified, then it just goes on to become a sticker for a Twitter account that has subscribed to Twitter Blue. Elon Musk has decided to charge $8 for the Twitter Blue subscription. In India, the feature is expected to launch within a few weeks but the pricing will be adjusted for purchasing power parity.