Elon Musk‘s ideas are already seeing some early delays from being implemented, with the new Twitter verification overhaul needing to wait a while longer.
The paid verification scheme has hit a snag ahead of the United States midterm elections with the obvious fears of misinformation around the electoral process causing concern for Twitter. The app will now delay the verification process until the election is completed, according to The New York Times.
It’s almost as if verification as it existed on the platform for years was great for preventing the spread of misinformation. Funny that!
In an internal Twitter Slack message, an employee reportedly raised the concern of election-based tomfoolery and the very real fear of Twitter being found guilty of election interference. Under Musk’s proposed verification scheme, any user can pay $8 to get their account verified and, theoretically, misuse the blue tick — long-associated with official accounts of public figures — and make people believe they’re, for example, Joe Biden. Or Ted Cruz. Or the CIA.
The clear issue Musk’s Twitter will need to address is how any user can trust the app when anyone can masquerade as a public figure with a blue tick. Given the prevalence of bot accounts (something Musk feels this system is designed to circumvent), they can now pay a figure and really cause a bigger fuss online.
Considering Musk backed down from the initial $20 verification fee after an online altercation with Stephen King, it doesn’t feel unlikely he’ll decide to completely back down from this troublesome idea. Musk’s word isn’t as strong and definite as his fans would believe — he’s the same man who promised manned flights to Mars by 2018.
Twitter’s new era seems shrouded by its new owner’s questionable beliefs around freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and one who seems to display little care outside of his bottom line.