Twitter Leak Claims Special Verification Badges For Brands May Launch Soon
If you've been paying attention, you've likely noticed that Twitter's badge system is pretty much useless now, as in the majority of cases, it will merely serve to alert other people about your subscription to Twitter Blue. The revamped plan launched earlier this month, giving Twitter users the option of paying $8 per month for some additional features. As expected, trolls took advantage of the change and used their newly-paid-for blue check marks to masquerade as major companies.
The company's new owner Elon Musk seemingly attempted to address this by mandating that accounts include the word parody when applicable, then soon after specified that the word parody has to be put directly in the display name. That didn't stop trolls from ignoring the rule entirely, though, and soon there were accounts pretending to be Nintendo and other big companies. The most notorious of the troll accounts was one that pretended to be Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company, that tweeted insulin would be free. The company's stock tanked and it later pulled all of its ads from Twitter (via The Washington Post).
Different kinds of badges for different types of accounts
As it stands right now, there's a single Twitter badge, it is blue with a check mark in the center, and it used to mean the account it was attached to was authentic. Under the new Twitter Blue subscription, the verified badge may still mean that on legacy accounts, but for everyone else, it'll merely signify that they're paying $8 per month. That's not very useful when it comes to communicating anything to viewers, so Twitter may roll out additional badges, according to Platformer.
In a post, Casey Newton claims to have gleaned some details about Twitter's alleged plans from a seating chart. Based on the document, there are reportedly five teams in Twitter working on their own projects, one of which is the $8 per month Blue subscription. Aside from that, there's reportedly a Blue for Business verification option in the works, the encrypted DMs we heard about a few days ago, a tipping feature, and the long-form notes Musk has already mentioned.
Of note is the Blue for Business plan, which was detailed in some additional documents obtained by Platformer. With this, brands will allegedly have the option of buying a different type of verification badge for their workers, which will make it clear which company those accounts are affiliated with and help distinguish them from other accounts. Tweets from these users may include additional badges next to their names so that their status is immediately noticeable. Mockups of the new badges reportedly included ones for Verizon and The New York Times, but recent resignations may disrupt these plans.