Elon Musk’s Twitter will reportedly delay changes to its verification system until after the upcoming midterm elections.
The New York Times reports that according to an internal post viewed by the publication and confirmed by two sources familiar with the decision, Twitter is delaying the rollout of its $8 monthly subscription service verifications until after Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Twitter announced last week that it was launching a new verification program that would allow users to verify their accounts and receive a blue check mark. On Saturday, the company released a new Twitter app update which included a note stating that the paid verification system was now a part of the Twitter Blue subscription service, which also offers features like reduced ads, app themes, and bookmark folders.
The announcement statea: “Power to the people. Your account will get a blue check mark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.”
Prior to Tuesday’s elections, many Twitter users and employees have raised concerns that the new pay-for-play badges might cause confusion. The new badges could result in users posing as verified accounts and spreading chaos before information. On Saturday, a Twitter employee expressed concerns in a company Slack channel asking why the firm was “making such a risky change before elections, which has the potential of causing election interference.”
On Sunday, a manager working on the verification badge project responded that “we’ve made the decision to move the launch of this release to Nov. 9, after the election.”
Breitbart News recently reported that users blacklisted from the platform will not be returning until well after the election.
NBC News reports that Elon Musk recently suggested that people that have been blacklisted from Twitter will not be allowed back on the platform for several weeks, which would prevent political figures like former President Donald Trump from returning to Twitter before the midterm elections.
Musk tweeted about the situation in a response to Yoel Roth, Twitter’s radical leftist head of safety and integrity, regarding attempts to “manipulate” conversations around the 2022 midterm elections which take place next week.
Musk recently called on independent voters to support Republicans in tomorrow’s midterm elections in order to “curb the worst excesses of both parties.”
Read more at the New York Times here.
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