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Twitter has launched a subscription service for $US7.99 ($12.40) a month that includes a blue check previously given to verified accounts as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the platform.
Key points:
- Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts
- The blue checks were meant to help prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians
- Twitter has already seen "a massive drop in revenue", Mr Musk said
In an update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said users who "sign up now" can receive the blue check next to their names "just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow".
So far, verified accounts do not appear to be losing their checks.
The ability for anyone to get the blue check could lead to confusion and the rise of disinformation ahead of Tuesday's elections if possible impostors pay for the subscription and use the names of politicians and election officials.
Along with widespread lay-offs that began on Friday, many fear what may happen if content moderation and verification are reduced.
The change represents the end of Twitter's current verification system, which was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians.
Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, many of them rank-and-file journalists from around the globe verified by their companies regardless of how many followers they had.
Verification not mentioned in iOS update
Experts have raised concerns about upending the platform's verification system that, while not perfect, had helped Twitter's 238 million daily users determine whether accounts were authentic.
The update Twitter made to the iOS version of its app did not mention verification as part of the new blue check system.
Mr Musk, who had earlier said that he wanted to "verify all humans" on Twitter, has suggested public figures would be identified in ways other than the blue check.
Currently, for instance, government officials are identified with text under names stating that they are posting from an official government account.
US President Joe Biden's @POTUS account, for example, says in grey letters it belongs to a "United States government official".
The change comes a day after the company began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies are pausing advertising on Twitter as a cautious corporate world waits to see how it will operate under its new owner.
About half of the company's staff of 7,500 was let go, tweeted Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity.
He said the company's frontline content moderation staff was the group the least affected by the job cuts and that "efforts on election integrity — including harmful misinformation that can suppress the vote and combating state-backed information operations — remain a top priority".
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday took blame for the wide job losses.
He had two runs as CEO of Twitter, with the most recent stretching from 2015 into 2021.
"I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly," he tweeted.
"I apologise for that."
'A massive drop in revenue'
Mr Musk tweeted late on Friday that there was no choice but to cut the jobs "when the company is losing over $4M/day".
He did not provide details on the daily losses at the company and said employees who lost their jobs were offered three months' pay as a severance.
Twitter has already seen "a massive drop in revenue" because of pressure from activist groups on advertisers to get off the platform, Mr Musk tweeted Friday.
That hits Twitter hard because of its heavy reliance so far on advertising to make money.
During the first six months of this year, nearly $92 of every $100 it made in revenue came from advertising.
Mr Musk tried to reassure advertisers last week, saying Twitter would not become a "free-for-all hellscape" because of what he calls his commitment to free speech.
But concerns remain about whether a lighter touch on content moderation at Twitter will result in users sending out more offensive tweets.
AP/ABC