The owner of Twitter has announced that the platform will charge users $8 per month to get a blue verification mark, which unlocks the meaning of the feature. Now, to save face, social media is adding a second, gray checkmark to all accounts that are truly trustworthy and represent an authentic person or organization.
As I write this article, media outlets like The New York Times and The Verge have a gray tick, while Twitter’s new owner and current CEO, Elon Musk, lacks one.
Esther Crawford, currently Twitter’s VP and head of the Blue Subscription Project, confirmed on Twitter that the “Official” account will be used to differentiate between subscribers and verified accounts. All accounts that had a blue check before today will not immediately get the new account, she added in the following tweet, and the official account is no longer available for sale.
According to VP, “Accounts accepted include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public representatives”. The company will continue to test ways to differentiate account types, which means this solution may not be final.
