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Economic Times | 13 Dec, 2022 | 07:28AM IST
Twitter News Live Updates: Elon Musk relaunches Twitter Blue after fake account fiasco
Twitter News Live Updates: Elon Musk relaunched a subscription service for Twitter on Monday after a first attempt saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers and cast doubt on the site's future.
The first try last month came just 10 days after Musk's $44 billion takeover of the influential platform and a mass round of layoffs that saw company staff levels halved, including teams of workers moderating content.
The relaunch of Twitter Blue comes as the Tesla and SpaceX owner has stepped up his tweets endorsing right-wing causes, including opposition to the use of gender neutral pronouns and the US government's response to Covid-19.
The subscription service costs $8 per month for users accessing Twitter on the web and $11 if signing up on an Apple device. The extra price could be explained by Musk's anger that Apple charges up to 30 percent service fee on its app store.
The initial rollout of Twitter Blue caused an uproar when many fake accounts popped up pretending to be celebrities or companies and Musk's team was forced to pull the plug on the scheme.
This time, the company beefed up its verification procedure with a review required by Twitter before receiving the coveted blue check mark.
Checkmarks are now gold for businesses and, later in the week, will become gray for government organizations, the company said.
A blue checkmark on an account, which indicates it has been verified by Twitter, was previously free but reserved for organizations and public figures in an attempt to avoid impersonation and misinformation.
According to the site, new subscriptions to Twitter Blue were currently available only in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, "with plans to expand."
Since his takeover, content moderation has proved to be a major headache for Musk, who has described himself as a free-speech absolutist and vowed to end most forms of censorship on the site.
But the billionaire's commitment to free speech has scared off major advertisers, caught the attention of regulators and briefly challenged the company's access to the Apple app store.
Musk believes that the previous ownership of Twitter held a strong left-wing and pro-LGBTQ bias and unfairly banned accounts, including that of former president Donald Trump.
The first try last month came just 10 days after Musk's $44 billion takeover of the influential platform and a mass round of layoffs that saw company staff levels halved, including teams of workers moderating content.
The relaunch of Twitter Blue comes as the Tesla and SpaceX owner has stepped up his tweets endorsing right-wing causes, including opposition to the use of gender neutral pronouns and the US government's response to Covid-19.
The subscription service costs $8 per month for users accessing Twitter on the web and $11 if signing up on an Apple device. The extra price could be explained by Musk's anger that Apple charges up to 30 percent service fee on its app store.
The initial rollout of Twitter Blue caused an uproar when many fake accounts popped up pretending to be celebrities or companies and Musk's team was forced to pull the plug on the scheme.
This time, the company beefed up its verification procedure with a review required by Twitter before receiving the coveted blue check mark.
Checkmarks are now gold for businesses and, later in the week, will become gray for government organizations, the company said.
A blue checkmark on an account, which indicates it has been verified by Twitter, was previously free but reserved for organizations and public figures in an attempt to avoid impersonation and misinformation.
According to the site, new subscriptions to Twitter Blue were currently available only in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, "with plans to expand."
Since his takeover, content moderation has proved to be a major headache for Musk, who has described himself as a free-speech absolutist and vowed to end most forms of censorship on the site.
But the billionaire's commitment to free speech has scared off major advertisers, caught the attention of regulators and briefly challenged the company's access to the Apple app store.
Musk believes that the previous ownership of Twitter held a strong left-wing and pro-LGBTQ bias and unfairly banned accounts, including that of former president Donald Trump.
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Musk relaunches Twitter Blue after fake account fiasco
Elon Musk relaunched a subscription service for Twitter on Monday after a first attempt saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers and cast doubt on the site's future. The first try last month came just 10 days after Musk's $44 billion takeover of the influential platform and a mass round of layoffs that saw company staff levels halved, including teams of workers moderating content.
