Why Elon Musk Decided to Pause the Relaunch of Twitter Blue

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said on Monday the social media company is holding off the relaunch of its blue check subscription service, a delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the platform. “Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk said in a tweet.

“Will probably use different colour check for organisations than individuals.”

Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation.

Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2022

The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures.

But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this month to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers.

Twitter had paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service, as fake accounts mushroomed and had said Twitter’s sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on Nov. 29.

Last week, Musk tweeted that with the new release, changing someone’s verified name would cause the loss of the blue check until their name is confirmed by Twitter to meet the platform’s terms of service.

Musk also tweeted that Twitter added 1.6 million users this past week, “another all-time high”.

Advertisers on Twitter, including big companies such as General Motors, Mondelez International, and Volkswagen AG, have paused advertising on the platform, as they grapple with the new boss.

Hundreds of Twitter employees have also been estimated to have quit last week, following a Thursday deadline by Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave.

Musk previously stated that Twitter users engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying it as a “parody” account will be permanently suspended without a warning. Several fake brand accounts, including those of Nintendo and BP, have been suspended.

© Thomson Reuters 2022