It was until now a symbol of recognition on Twitter, reserved for personalities and organizations, but from April 1, the famous blue mark was to disappear from all profiles, except those who will pay to use it.
This blue tick, affixed next to the name of the profile, has nevertheless become, since its creation in 2009, one of the essential marks on Twitter: courted by the accounts which wanted to be certified, it allowed the platform to fight against usurpations identity, and to gain credibility by becoming a safe forum for stars, politicians, organizations and journalists.
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Since his takeover in 2022, Elon Musk has significantly cut staff and at the same time restored access to those whose accounts had been blocked, sparking an explosion of hate speech and online violence, according to organizations monitoring social networks. . The certification system may therefore seem more necessary there than ever. But the billionaire, like his army of fans, first sees in it the mark of a two-speed system, separating what he presents as the “plebeians” from Twitter of a privileged elite. One of its first decisions, after taking over the network last year, was to redesign Twitter Blue, the paid version of Twitter, by integrating certification, a reform that quickly turned into a fiasco.
In the hours that followed, fake accounts, although certified, flourished, posing as celebrities or large companies, sometimes not without consequence: the title of pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly thus plunged because of an announcement on one of those fake accounts.
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Faced himself with a tide of fake accounts borrowing his name, Musk had then backed down, instituting a system of verification of the subscribers of the option, but too late: many of the main advertisers left Twitter, reducing the income of the network.
“Do you accept this blackmail? »
Musk will not have backed down for long on this idea of charging certified accounts with a blue dot. Their users now have to pay to keep it. It remains to be seen how many will. “The question is: do you accept this blackmail? »asks Rob Enderle, analyst for Enderle Group. For a brand or a celebrity, the risk, if they refuse to pay, is to see an imposter do it to pretend to be the official account, he underlines.
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Those who pay through Twitter Blue will not be subject to as much verification as was previously required to qualify for free, according to a blog post from the group. “In summary, Twitter Blue is a receipt, proof of payment by the user”summarizes Avi Greengart, analyst for Techsponential.
This “premium subscription” according to Twitter is offered in France between 9.60 euros (on the web) and 11 euros (on Android or Mac) per month to individuals.
“It’s a way to treat everyone fairlyElon Musk responded last week to a tweet from “Star Trek” legend William Shatner, who explained refusing to pay. There should be no different treatment for celebrities”.
According to Travis Brown, a software developer who also specializes in social media monitoring, 13,200 accounts have so far opted to pay to maintain their certification. “At this speed, it will be 5% on April 1”he estimated Thursday, March 30.
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To pay or not to pay 1,000 dollars a month?
The question also arises for the media, which have the certification reserved for companies but will have to pay 1,000 dollars (about 1,140 euros) per month to keep it.
A spokesperson for the “New York Times” assured that the daily will not pay (he actually lost its blue mark) and will only do so on a case-by-case basis “when a verified status is essential at work”, for its journalists. The New York newspaper account 55 million subscribers to its accounts on Twitter.
On the side of the “Washington Post”, we prefer to wait in order to see the consequences of the change while the AFP, in an internal email to its journalists, explained “study the situation” and says she can “adapt if necessary”.
As for organizations, the model makes people cringe, while the idea is being emulated: Facebook is currently testing it in Australia and New Zealand.
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“Instead of reforming his platform to promote access to reliable information, Elon Musk wants to make it a two-tier space, where only those who pay have a say, whether or not they produce information of general interest »criticized the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire, interviewed by AFP. “This contributes to the loss of confidence, for an increase in income which will probably not happen”believes for his part Avi Greengart.
Solicited by AFP, the press service of Twitter only returned by email the elegant automatic response provided, an emoji in the shape of a turd – in the same vein, Elon Musk qualified this April 2 the Twitter feed of the “New York Times” “Twitter equivalent of diarrhea”.
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Moderation bug (those under 13 when registering have their account closed if Twitter notices it, even later), the parliamentary channel LCP was taken for a child and saw its Twitter account closed. She had to fight for a long time to get her recovery, reports Numerama
Protection against fake accounts according to Musk
Elon Musk defended his decision on Friday March 31, believing that social networks that will not follow his example will eventually collapse, overwhelmed with fake accounts.
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“The major challenge here is that it is very easy to create 10,000 or 100,000 fake accounts on Twitter with a single computer and modern AI”explained Musk during a question-and-answer session on his platform, the day before the switch to paid certification.
“It is for this reason that verification can only be done with a telephone number and credit card”he added, “my prediction is that the so-called social networks that won’t do it will go downhill”.
The businessman is also desperate to find a way to generate income for a company that has lost, according to him, more than half of its value since its acquisition, for 44 billion dollars. Small consolation of ego in the meantime: his Twitter account is now the most followed in the world (133.45 million subscribers) ahead of that of Barack Obama (133 million).
TN with AFP
