Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk
Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that Twitter Blue’s check subscription service will be relaunched later this month on the 29th. In a tweet he shared, he wrote that “Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid.”
According to Elon Musk, when users changed their verified name, they will lose the blue verification check “until name is confirmed by Twitter to meet terms of service.”
The blue verification check was designed initially to show that the account belonged to famous people, politicians, journalists, and public figures, and had been verified by Twitter. Twitter, however, released a subscription option that let anyone who pays for it to get the blue verification check. The company rolled out the option recently as an additional revenue stream to cushion the effect that reduced spending from advertisers had on the company. But things didn’t go as planned…
Shortly after the launch of the subscription service, several people were reported to have abused the Twitter Blue feature by impersonating celebrities and brands. This caused Twitter to temporarily suspend the service. As of Friday, the iPhone app no longer displayed the option to sign up for Twitter Blue.
Elon Musk assured last week that Twitter blue was going to “come back end of next week.” The service’s relaunch on the 29th is, therefore, a minor delay from an initially planned relaunch.
The paid blue verification check on Twitter received huge criticisms when it was initially announced, and a handful of American celebrities decried the decision. Celebrities and brands have started announcing their exit from Twitter but it seems their decision came in a bit too early as there might still be a chance for CEO Elon Musk to salvage the situation.
The latest chain of events comes as Elon Musk took over Twitter after acquiring the company for $44 billion or $54.20 per share.