Elon Musk moves Twitter’s blue-check verification relaunch until after Election Day

Twitter will postpone the revamping of its “blue check” verification system until after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, announced he would end the current subjective system for awarding blue checks to accounts, amid scandalous reports now emerging that blue checks were being sold by Twitter’s workers under the table for as much as $15,000.

Blue checks indicate the account has been verified and is a status symbol that has been awarded to famous people. After Musk bought the social media platform, he announced that verified accounts would be charged $8 a month as a subscription to the verification service, and that new verification applications would be processed starting Monday, Nov. 7. But now, the switch to a subscriber model will start after the 2022 election is over.

“The blue Verified badge  on Twitter lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. To receive the blue badge, your account must be authentic, notable, and active,” Twitter’s help page still says, reflecting the old system.

Under the expiring rules, a Twitter account “must represent or otherwise be associated with a prominently recognized individual or brand, in line with the notability criteria described below. In addition to confirming the identity of the controller of the account, Twitter will Verify the following types of accounts based on the criteria described. In all categories, Twitter may independently confirm qualifying affiliation through business partnerships or direct outreach. For each category we may request the following type of information to confirm notability:

• “News Coverage: Provide news articles that are about or reference yourself or your organization multiple times in the article. These articles must be from Verified news organizations and cannot be a blog or self-published content. Some categories may require you to submit articles that reference or link to your or your organization’s Twitter handle in addition to referring to you or your organization.
• “Google Trends: Provide a link to a profile on Google Trends that depicts search history and is linked to the category in which you are applying.
• “Wikipedia: Provide a link to a stable Wikipedia article about you or your organization that meets the encyclopedia’s notability standards.
• Other industry specific references: Depending on the category, we may ask for more industry specific references such as a link to an IMDB page for entertainment.
• “Follower or Mention Count: If your account is detected to be in the top .05% follower or mention count for your geographic location, it may count towards notability evidence for certain categories.”

Under the new system, people can ask for verification and go through a verification process even if they are not famous or “noteworthy.” But the new account will be a subscription rather than a caste system, Musk has said.

Some journalists who have been regulars at the back-alley fight club at Twitter are moving their social media accounts to a new site called Mastodon Social, a microblogging site where liberals have herded out of protest against the new owner of Twitter, who has ended the practice of banishing conservative voices. Anchorage Democrats have set up an account at Mastodon Social, as has Vicky Ho, the managing editor of the Anchorage Daily News, and reporter James Brooks of Alaska Beacon.