Musk defends Twitter's blue badge plans

Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, defended yesterday his launch of a paid subscription service for verified accounts, which was heavily criticized.

“Documentation on a large scale democratizes journalism and empowers people’s voice,” he wrote on Twitter, responding to concerns from companies, advertisers and even the United Nations, who fear the rise of hate speech and disinformation on the network.

Under the new plan, users can, by paying eight dollars a month to subscribe to the Twitter Blue service, get the network's famous verification token that the account is verified.

Currently, this feature is only available to eligible accounts, such as public figures, an approach that Musk described as a "lords and peasants system."

The iPhone social network is already referring to the new service, but its launch has been pushed back to Wednesday, the day after the US midterm elections, according to the New York Times.

Describing the app update, Twitter said, "The blue tick: power to people. Your account will get the blue tick, just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow."

"Twitter needs to become the most accurate source of information around the world," Musk wrote on Twitter on Sunday. That's our mission.

However, many observers fear the spread of fake accounts.

Twitter user Kyle Grantham said Musk's new policy "will allow anyone who gives me money to appear to be a legitimate source of news, rather than just making sure that all legitimate sources of news are confirmed."

Musk has also targeted those who impersonate others on the platform, as it appears that many people using different versions of Elon Musk have had their accounts suspended.

"From now on, any use of Twitter that includes impersonation without the phrase 'parody' will be suspended," Musk added in a tweet, adding that pseudonyms are only allowed as long as users "are not engaging in malicious deception."

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