Elon Musk confirmed that Twitter employees were reportedly selling verification for upwards of $15,000.
“Twitter employees were selling verification for upwards of $15,000. For certain accounts, mine included, they would refuse to verify you through the standard application and then privately offer to verify you for $$ behind the scenes. Investigation needed,” Twitter user @WSBChairman tweeted.
“Yup,” Musk replied.
Yup
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 5, 2022
I have decent evidence from my conversations with the contact, and I have others who could provide more who actually completed the process & paid.
— Chairman (@WSBChairman) November 5, 2022
Some receipts from just now pic.twitter.com/WXV8aEq4ds
— Chairman (@WSBChairman) November 5, 2022
It appears whoever ran the alleged Twitter verification operation was secretly lining his/her own pockets.
I can confirm this.
I was offered verification in June of 2015 as I was an author and speaker.
The price I was told, was $13k.
Obviously, I couldn't afford it and continued on.
Elon bought a crime scene and now people are finding out just how bad it was. https://t.co/5qUDIUZYOs
— Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) November 6, 2022
As Fortune reported, Twitter launched the $8/month subscription service for verification on Saturday:
Twitter on Saturday launched a subscription service for $8 a month that includes a blue checkmark now given to verified accounts as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the platform’s verification system just ahead of U.S. midterm elections.
In an update to Apple iOS devices, Twitter said users who “sign up now” can receive the blue checkmark next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”
The change represents the end of Twitter’s current verification system, which was launched in 2009 to prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians. Before the overhaul, Twitter had about 423,000 verified accounts, many of them rank-and-file journalists from around the globe that the company verified regardless of how many followers they had.
Experts have raised grave concerns about upending the platform’s verification system that, while not perfect, has helped Twitter’s 238 million daily users determine whether the accounts they were getting information from were authentic. The update Twitter made to the iOS version of its app does not mention verification as part of the new “blue check” system.
It comes a day after the company began laying off workers to cut costs and as more companies are pausing advertising on Twitter as a cautious corporate world waits to see how it will operate under its new owner.
About half of the company’s staff of 7,500 was let go, tweeted Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity.
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