By Twitter owner Elon Musk was set to relaunch a subscription service on Monday after a first attempt saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers and created doubt about the site´s future.
Last month’s attempt came only ten days after Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the influential platform and a massive round of layoffs that saw firm employee levels halved, including teams of workers moderating material.
The relaunch of Twitter Blue coincides with Elon Musk’s increased support for right-wing issues, such as using gender-neutral pronouns and the US government’s response to Covid-19.
When several false accounts appeared claiming to be celebrities or corporations during the first deployment of the subscription plan, Musk’s team was obliged to quickly stop the distribution.
This time, the firm said that subscribers will have to be evaluated by Twitter before earning the coveted blue check mark beginning Monday.
The check mark will be gold for enterprises and grey for government agencies later this week, according to the announcement.
A blue checkmark on an account, indicating that Twitter has verified it, was formerly free but reserved for organizations and prominent personalities to avoid impersonation and disinformation.
