Elon Musk Admits Twitter’s Paid Blue-check Verification May Be “Dumb,” Wants “80% Of Humanity” On Platform

Elon Musk, the newly appointed owner of Twitter, presided over an hour-long, rambling pitch to advertisers, defending the $8 monthly blue-check verification scheme and promising to turn the social media site into “a force for good.”

The discussion took place on the company’s Spaces audio platform at the same time that several significant advertisers suspended their purchases on Twitter due to its abrupt shift in ownership (hear the whole audio here).

Regarding the brand-new blue-check system, Musk declared, “I think it’s going to be a good planet.” “Are we not proponents of ‘one person, one vote? I believe we do. We’ll see if this was a bad choice, though.

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Musk and a group of investors recently announced a $44 billion proposal to take the company private, which was originally proposed last spring. Musk attempted to avoid the acquisition for months before going through with it last month. A revamp of the way the business verifies accounts is just one of the numerous changes he has ushered in in the few days since taking control of the site.

In the past, users (about 400,000 accounts) whose accounts the firm considered to be of great importance to the larger Twitter community because they were notable personalities from politics, media, corporate life, entertainment, or other industries received a blue check.

Twitter will now charge $8 a month for everyone who wishes to have a blue check, replacing the system Musk described as the kind of “lords-and-peasants setup” that the United States “won a war over.”

Many users and marketers are worried about the possibility of hazardous information spreading through accounts with a blue check when all that the check currently denotes is that someone paid a little sum for the badge. The attempted rollout of grey checks for prominent subscribers was abandoned, adding another twist to the process.

Musk and his coworkers made it clear during the presentation that they would rigorously monitor accounts for fraudulent activity. We will deliberately suspend any accounts that engage in deceit or dishonesty, according to Musk. “Here, the playing field is being levelled. Naturally, a checkmark will make it less special. However, I consider this to be positive.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s David Cohen participated in the meeting on behalf of various interested parties. Cohen once claimed that he was getting a “tsunami” of emails and tweets from worried residents as Musk drew out his idea.

Twitter’s soap opera is being played out against the backdrop of a steep decline in the digital advertising business, with internet giants like Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Roku reporting large drops in ad expenditure in the third quarter. With his 115 million+ followers, Musk has continued to stir the pot.

He spent months abusing Twitter before submitting his unsolicited takeover offer and promising to purge it of bots and phony accounts. Additionally, he tweeted (before deleting it) a false conspiracy theory about the assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Musk opened the Spaces session by waxing lyrical about Twitter’s potential despite his long history of questionable tweeting. He questioned, “Can we get 80% of humanity on Twitter?,” saying he intends to make Twitter “as inclusive as possible.” ”

(While the prospect of expanding active users from 238 million, its last publicly announced number, to more than 6 billion, is far-fetched, it might help relieve pressure on earning money from advertising) (While the notion of increasing active users from 238 million, it’s last publicly reported tally, to more than 6 billion, is far-fetched, it could help relieve pressure on making money from advertising.

President Joe Biden has committed to look into the finances underlying the Musk purchase in addition to the inconsistent application of some new processes and the company’s decision to lay off half of its workers.

Considering that the Saudi government and other non-American actors are involved in Whether or not Elon Musk is acting inappropriately, I’m not implying that, Biden stated, “I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technological relationships with other governments are worthy of being looked at. I’m suggesting that it merits investigation.

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