Twitter pulls out Twitter Blue, its first paid subscription product, as fake accounts flood the platform. The subscription which lets people pay for the blue check mark, Twitter’s verification label, charges $7.99 per month for the service.
Twitter Blue service is Elon Musk’s first product launch since he acquired the company for $44 billion.
Musk said that the paid verification system was meant to counter the rising numbers of spam accounts on the platform. He also said that accounts taking advantage of the new system were going to be permanently banned from Twitter.
Since the product’s launch, multiple parody accounts of celebrities, political leaders, and brands popped up all over the platform. Many of these fake accounts were suspended, but more and more parody accounts continue to wreak havoc on the platform.
While most of these fake accounts merely tweeted parody statements, some have been allegedly engaged in phishing attempts. An account, that has since been suspended, had impersonated a verified Twitter account and ran a phishing scam.
Some of the world’s biggest brands, like Volkswagen and Pfizer, had paused their advertising on Twitter due to reservations that the site might scale back on advertising and content moderation.
Musk held a Twitter space addressing the concern. This space was attended by representatives from big brands like Target, Warner Brothers, Audi, etc. Musk said that there’s a lot to be done on advertising on the platform. “We have to change the existing codebase and have to try and approach the limit to get ads as close to the content. From a commerce standpoint if you’re able to buy things quickly, effortlessly on Twitter with one click that’s great,” he said.