Twitter has been aggressively pushing its Blue subscription, which unlocks some unique options and in addition provides customers a blue verified badge. In one other try and persuade extra customers to pay for Twitter Blue, the platform will now cease recommending tweets from unverified accounts. More than that, non-Blue customers will not be capable to vote in polls.
Twitter to limit what non-Blue customers can do
The announcement was made by Twitter owner Elon Musk on Monday, who mentioned that such modifications will take impact on April 15. According to Musk, solely verified accounts will probably be eligible to have their tweets proven within the For You tab. This tab is used to point out instructed content material.
But that’s not all. Musk additionally mentioned in the identical tweet that accounts that aren’t subscribed to Twitter Blue will not be capable to vote in polls. He claims that that is the “only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over.”
Earlier this month, Twitter made the Blue subscription accessible globally. Right after that, the corporate introduced that legacy verified customers will lose their badge on April 1 until they pay for the Blue subscription. In the US, the Twitter Blue subscription prices $8 per 30 days, or $11 for those who’re subscribing from the iOS app.
9to5Mac’s Take
Musk’s declare that limiting the attain of tweets from unverified accounts and even stopping them from voting in polls is the one technique to cease bots is solely a lie. Right now, anybody with a sound telephone quantity can get the blue checkmark by paying for Twitter Blue. Twitter by no means asks for a authorities ID to truly test if that particular person is the true proprietor of that account.
Twitter’s verification system has by no means been excellent. However, prior to now, eligible customers needed to show their id by submitting an ID and different proof of their notability to verify who they’re. Twitter Blue’s verified badge just isn’t proof of id. It’s a proof of standing. And it received’t cease bots or pretend Twitter accounts.
At this level, Musk is solely determined to earn cash from Twitter. After all, the corporate is now valued at $20 billion, whereas he paid $44 billion for it in October. As the proprietor of Twitter, Musk can do no matter he desires with it. But his arguments to justify the newest modifications are extraordinarily questionable.
In the meantime, he continues to fireplace key engineers and executives whereas the platform faces fixed outages, critical bugs, and even safety breaches. As an previous Twitter fan, it’s just too unhappy to observe it burn.
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