Verified Chaos: Power to the People $8/ Month Blue Tick System Gone Wrong

Among an ongoing series of rapid developments, new Twitter owner Elon Musk announced paid blue ticks for $8 per month on November 1. Signing up for this newfangled verification system comes with its own set of perks including priority in replies, mentions and search, ability to post long video and audio, less ads and paywall bypass for selected publishers. “Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people!” he tweeted before revealing his latest idea. Needless to say, impersonation chaos ensued as parody accounts of several brands rushed to get verified, leading Twitter to temporarily pause its $8 Twitter Blue offering in order to reassess the process while also introducing grey ticks to mark “official” profiles of specific entities in an attempt to contain the confusion. One of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world, Eli Lilly and Co., got caught up in a high-profile viral spoof after a newly ‘ verified’ account impersonating the company tweeted: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now,” resulting in a complete meltdown as company officials scrambled to contact Twitter representatives to remove the tweet over fears it would undermine their brand reputation by pushing false claims about medicine. In the aftermath of the fake tweet that had garnered over 10k likes before it was taken down, Eli Lilly halted all Twitter ad campaigns and paused their publishing plan for the platform on all corporate accounts around the world. “Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include “parody” in their name, not just in bio,” Musk tweeted in response. “We’re adding a “Parody” subscript to clarify.”