Musk says Twitter Blue will “probably” return by “late next week” after scammers trolled businesses and celebs
That could make some companies nervous.
Last week, trolls used the new service to impersonate various corporations. For example, one posed as Eli Lilly and announced, “We’re pleased to announce that insulin is now free,” putting the pharma giant into damage control mode.
Another pretended to be the Lockheed Martin defense contractor and told the company would stop selling guns in some countries including the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The pranksters were able to easily pull off these stunts because, on Twitter Blue, anyone can pay $8 a month for a blue tick, which before Musk indicated that the identity of a reputable company or individual had been verified. Twitter previously offered verification for free
On Friday, users reported that the recently launched Twitter Blue was no longer available. But it was just a break.
Musk’s push for Twitter Blue
Musk has warned that Twitter can’t survive on ads alone and needs to grow subscription revenue to survive, suggesting bankruptcy is a possibility in the recession he believes is coming. In a Q&A with employees on Thursday, Musk said he still has “recessive PTSD” from keeping PayPal and Tesla alive through difficult years, citing post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ad sales make up 90% of Twitter’s total revenue. For their part, advertisers have continued to stay away from Twitter since Musk’s $44 billion acquisition. General Motors, United Airlines, General Mills and others have suspended advertising on the platform over concerns about brand safety while Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” makes his changes. The use of racial slurs and other offensive material increased on Twitter after Musk took control.
Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez International, one of the largest food and drink companies, told Reuters on Tuesday: “What we’ve seen lately since the change was announced on Twitter is that the amount of hate speech has increased significantly Has. We ran the risk of our advertising appearing alongside the wrong messages.”
With businesses nervous about both Twitter blue trolls and risky advertising on the platform, much attention will focus on how exactly the social network is impeding or preventing impersonation once the subscription service restarts.
The company began offering “official” labels for some accounts this week, but their distribution seemed random and they soon disappeared.
“Twitter no longer has sacred cows in product,” tweeted Esther Crawford, a Twitter contributor who worked on the verification overhaul.
She added, “Elon is willing to try many things – many will fail, some will succeed.”
Sign up for the Fortune Features Email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews and investigations.
