Twitter is delaying the rollout of checkmarks for subscribers to its new $7.99-per-month subscription service until after Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to an internal report reviewed by The New York Times and two people who knew about the move. decision.
The company called a day after announcing that it was rolling out the program so people could get a verification check mark on their profile for the monthly fee. On Saturday, the company had said in notes in a new update to the Twitter app that the paid verification system was now a feature of the website’s subscription service, Twitter Blue.
“Power to the people,” the announcement read. “Your account will get a blue check, as will the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”
But many Twitter users and employees expressed concern that the new pay-for-play badges for Tuesday’s election could cause confusion as users can easily create verified accounts, for example by impersonating President Biden or as lawmakers or news outlets and false information about voting results – which could potentially sow discord. In an internal Slack channel on Saturday, a Twitter employee asked why the social network “made such a risky change before the election, potentially causing election meddling.”
An executive working on the verification badge project replied on Sunday that “we have made the decision to move the launch of this release to November 9 after the election.”
Twitter, whose communications team has been almost completely fired, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Charging the verification check program was one of the changes made by Elon Musk, who took over Twitter in a $44 billion buyout late last month. The billionaire is under financial pressure from the deal, which he partly financed with $13 billion in debt. Twitter has long been unprofitable and, like other social media companies, is facing a weakening of digital advertising spending as the global economy leans into recession.
On Friday, Mr. Musk laid off about half of Twitter’s employees, or about 3,700 jobs. He said at the time that he had no choice but to cut back because the company was losing $4 million a day.
Mr. Musk and his advisers have also discussed several ways to squeeze more money out of Twitter. In addition to the checkmark program, they’ve talked about adding paid direct messages — which allow users to send private messages to high-profile users — to the service, as well as “paywall” videos, which would mean certain videos won’t be watched unless users have a have paid compensation. They also talked about reviving Vine, a one-time, short-form video platform.
