Elon Musk’s social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, has introduced a new feature that allows paid users to verify their accounts using government-issued IDs through an Israel-based identity verification company.
In a bizarre turn of events, Twitter has reinstated blue checkmarks for numerous celebrities without their consent, raising ethical and legal questions over the verification process.
Multimillionaire author Stephen King has complained about the prospect of paying $20 a month to maintain his blue-check verification on Twitter, threatening to quit the platform if he is forced to pay the apparently exorbitant amount.
Twitter has paused its verification system after mistakenly verifying a number of fake accounts. At the same time the platform was giving bots the coveted blue checkmark of verification, conservatives facing fake copycats were not granted the same privilege.
Twitter reportedly plans to reopen its verification process in 2021 along with new guidelines for users seeking to be verified. Along with various benefits for the “blue check” user themselves, verification assures the general public that the account belongs to the person or brand it claims to represent. Twitter has refused to verify prominent conservatives such as James O’Keefe and Sidney Powell, leading to hoax accounts confusing the public.
Rep. Shimkus warned that Twitter gave “power to the loudest mob” and ultimately “fail[s] to protect controversial speech.”
