Far from a smoothly sailing acquisition, Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter has hit another roadblock.
Following the announcement of changes to Twitter’s verification process and its “blue check” verification plan priced at $8, worldwide backlash targeted at the new Twitter CEO ensued.
Despite a certainness in implementing the paid verification process, this weekend has proven that this is not as simple or as sensible as it may seem to Musk.
Warnings of possible cybersecurity breaches and an incomplete rollout of the service were the first of many technical problems to be brought up.
As a result, the implementation of these verification changes has been delayed until after the midterm elections (taking place today).
What does one have to do with the other? This leads to what may be one of the key points of this particular Twitter debacle.
The well-known “blue check” has been used to validate the authenticity of individuals on Twitter, particularly celebrities, companies and politicians. Any (unstable) changes to this process could plunge the already verified accounts of politicians into chaos, possibly affecting the results of the midterm elections.
Musk himself got a taste of the possible repercussions of his verification plan on Sunday night.
A series of tweets by Elon Musk and comedian Sarah Silverman impersonating him
Many Twitter-verified celebrities edited their profile icons and Twitter handles to impersonate the account of Elon Musk himself, in an attempt to bring attention to the triviality of his suggested approach.
In addition to that, the Twitter team has tried to rehire multiple former employees that were among the 3,700 employees let go last week. According to a Bloomberg News report, many were “either fired in error or too essential to the changes the billionaire businessman wants to make”.
What will happen with the Twitter verification after today’s system remains to be seen, but at this point, all bets are off.
