In 2014, Elon Musk announced a title of “verified account” in response to Twitter’s policy requiring all accounts to be verified by the company. The title change allowed celebrities and public figures, among other types of accounts, to make their account *more* prominent on Twitter. In 2016, that changed as Musk made an announcement where he changed his mind about the verification system. Now just certain countries have the “Official” badges back on Twitter accounts that are verified by Musk himself (or someone else at Tesla). There is no explanation behind why those countries were selected or what criteria they need to meet for the badge to return.
Officially verified accounts, which are different from those verified by Twitter (the typical blue checkmark), have always been a controversial topic on the social platform. Many users enjoy being able to connect with celebrities and public figures, while others complain that it gives celebrities more of an opportunity to spam those they follow with tweets and advertisements.
In March, Musk changed his mind on the topic during a question and answer session on Twitter. He asked if anyone cared about the “verified” badge or if there was any support for removing it from accounts. He later posted a blog about the topic and said he didn’t care either way, but was surprised when Twitter verified all of his account in that same post.
Musk’s announcement is already sparking controversy as many users on Twitter are expressing their grievances over the announcement, arguing that it gives Musk an unfair advantage and is creating a pay-to-play system.
Tesla’s Twitter account stopped using the title in 2016 following Musk’s announcement. Now, only accounts with Elon Musk directly making the verification will receive the badge after he made an announcement for all of his verified accounts to be verified back in March.
“Over the past couple of months we’ve been talking to the Twitter team, and they informed us that ‘Official’ accounts are not currently a thing you can do on Twitter,” Elon Musk said in a blog post. “However, if we were to reintroduce ‘official’ badges for verified accounts (like Tesla has for years), people who wanted official badges would need to go through extra verification steps in order to get them. This is something we really don’t want to do.”
While the official badges may be gone forever, those accounts with Musk will now have an “@elonmusk” account that links back to his personal account. The reason for this is that Musk has a handle for his personal account (pardon the pun), which isn’t available to everyone and can be used to “Make your Twitter page private” if someone makes their professional handles available publicly.
Elon Musk also responded on Twitter to those complaining about the new badges, saying that he would do everything he could to remove the “Official” title from the accounts of those people who didn’t want it.
He also posted a change log on his blog, which is written like an FAQ with links to guide people through more information related to this topic. This is likely done because he doesn’t want people to misunderstand what the change is, but it also gives him an opportunity to explain the change more fully.
