Twitter is in the process of rolling out an updated version of its pay-per-check system after a previous attempt was marred by fraudulent accounts posing as big brands and global leaders.
Starting Monday, users will be able to follow Twitter Blue again with a blue tick and access to special features.
The newly launched service costs $8 per month for Internet users and $11 per month for iPhone users.
According to Twitter, subscribers will see fewer ads, post longer videos, and post their tweets in a more prominent location — though none of these features will be present at launch.
Initially, the blue tick was given to businesses, celebrities, government agencies, and journalists that Twitter deemed to be genuine.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, he launched a service that issues blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month.
But it was soon taken over by scammers, some of whom posed as Musk’s companies Tesla and SpaceX, as well as prominent politicians and corporations.
Hours after launch, verified accounts posing as Tony Blair and George W. Bush linked to the Iraq War began to appear on the app.
Blue Check, parodying former President George W. Bush, tweeted: “I miss killing Iraqis.”
Accounts posing as Joe Biden and gaming giant Nintendo have sprung up in the US and have been distributing inappropriate material.
A few days later, the ability to join Twitter Blue was removed from the platform.
Twitter says it will crack down on impersonation this time around by ensuring that followers have a “verified phone number” and that their accounts are “verified” before putting a blue check mark.
It added: “Subscribers can change their username, display name, or profile picture, but if they do, they will temporarily lose the blue check mark until their account is verified again.”
Since his acquisition in October, Musk has laid off about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees.
Other employees were asked to save up to $3m (£2.68m) a day on the technical infrastructure — the servers and computers that keep Twitter online under the weight of its 238m daily revenue-generating users.
The 51-year-old, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”, has also recovered some previously suspended accounts, including Donald Trump’s account, although the former US president has yet to return to the platform.
Mr. Musk, who has been critical of Twitter’s past leadership, was accused Saturday of launching “baseless” smears against the former Twitter executive.
Former trust and security chief Yoel Roth, who resigned last month over disagreements with Musk, has faced attack from the right over moderators’ decisions and the decision to ban Donald Trump from the platform.
On Saturday, Musk tweeted an excerpt from Mr. Roth’s dissertation in which he mentioned the gay dating app Grindr and stated that Mr. Roth is “committed to ensuring that children have access to adult internet services.”
He also responded to an old tweet by Mr. Roth who posted an article about a man accused of sexual harassment and suggested that it “explains a lot”.
LGBT+ rights activists have accused Musk of trying to defame Mr. Roth, one of the gay company’s top executives, by playing on the right-wing stereotype that LGBT+ people are “babying” children.
In 2018, Musk branded a British caver involved in rescuing Thai teenagers as a “pedo man” after turning down the billionaire’s offer of help.
Mr Musk finally dropped a libel suit over the comment after Vernon Unsworth sought $190m (£145m) in damages from the Tesla founder, claiming the tweet damaged his reputation.
Mr. Roth was contacted for comment. Twitter no longer has a communications department.
Source: I News
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