Due to abuse by individuals pretending to be corporations and celebrities Twitter has apparently suspended its $7.99/month Blue premium program that granted users a verification check mark.
This week Twitter introduced a feature in its iOS app that lets users pay for the blue tick that indicates a verified or legitimate account. On Friday the option to join Twitter Blue was removed from the iPhone app.
The immediate suspension of the service shows that at least presently CEO Elon Musk’s huge ambition to earn fresh cash from users isn’t working as intended.
Due to the paid subscription service, many trolls have created fake Twitter accounts. As a result, the site became even more fertile ground for fake news with many low-quality verifications being used to post false information under the names of famous people, companies and organizations.
According to a current sales staffer at Twitter, the firm chose to scale back Twitter Blue verification as a result of the influx of impersonators.
“The employee, who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on Twitter’s behalf,” said that a fake account pretending to be pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly tweeted, “we are delighted to announce insulin is free now,” which led to widespread confusion.
For hours, the tweet was visible on Twitter before it was finally deleted. A tweet from the official Eli Lilly account later read, “We regret to anybody who has been issued a misleading message by a bogus Lilly account.” You can also read about why is Twitter removing persons from doing work from home.
The stock price of pharmaceutical corporations including Eli Lilly and AbbVie both of which were impersonated on Twitter, fell dramatically after the fraudulent statement was issued. At that time major stock indices were positive amidst a market rise.
A fake subscriber blue checkmark was used to mock Elon Musk’s electric car company, Tesla. A Twitter user with the name “@TeslaReal” posted a series of critical messages, including one that said, “honestly the 53% reduction in stock price doesn’t phase us. “We are the experts on Crashing if there is such a thing.
There have been a lot of changes on the Twitter platform and that’s causing a lot of problems for advertisers some of whom have already pulled their budgets.
Some paying customers have also reported that the blue verification status they had lately been awarded has mysteriously vanished from their profiles.
Twitter did not immediately comment “Musk was unavailable for comment”
At the same time that Musk and Alex Spiro, who is currently functioning as Twitter’s top lawyer, are trying to reassure employees, advertisers, and regulators that Twitter would comply with all laws and provisions of a prior FTC consent decree, Twitter has rolled back its Blue verified status.
On Thursday night, CNBC acquired an internal email from Tesla CEO Elon Musk in which he said that his business will “do whatever it takes” to comply with the terms of the FTC consent order. It’s important to note that any information to the contrary is completely fabricated. The same is true for any other instances of government regulation that may arise in countries where Twitter is active.
Spiro wrote in another e-mail that followed that his team had met with FTC regulators on Thursday and that Twitter has its “first upcoming compliance check” with the agency soon. He stressed that “individuals who work at Twitter” would not be held responsible for any infringement, but rather Twitter itself.
You can also read about the latest trending news:
- Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval React to Split Rumors
- Nike’s Association With Kyrie Irving is Most Certainly Over
Yoel Roth Twitter’s head of trust and safety and Lea Kessner, the company’s chief information security officer, are just two of several officials in the infrastructure, trust, and security departments that have left Twitter since Musk took over, as reported by NBC News.
Keep following venturejolt.com for more updates. Don’t forget to bookmark our site for the latest updates on trending news.