Musk appears to have learned the lesson from the verification fiasco, and now has a fresh plan. All verified accounts will now be categorized and identified based on the badge color. According to Musk, accounts belonging to “government” (most likely government offices and officials) will have a gray checkmark. Accounts run by companies will stand out with a gold tick mark. For accounts belonging to an individual, they will retain the blue color.
Now, Musk clarifies that the blue badge will be universally applied to individuals, whether they are a “celebrity or not.” What this means is we won’t be able to distinguish if a verified account belonging to a user got the blue tick mark based on its importance, or if it was purchased with a Twitter Blue subscription. This, again, seems like a stop-gap solution. Musk wants to visually protect government and brand accounts with a colorful badge that is easily identifiable.
Deliberate impersonation/deception will result in account suspension.
Organizational affiliation, bio and follower count distinguish between people who genuinely have the exact same name.
We shall see how it goes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
However, it again leaves personal accounts at risk of impersonation without any visual cue for users to easily identify the real one from a fake verified account. Musk says deliberate impersonation will result in a permanent ban, but what’s the point if the damage has already been done? In the not-too-distant past, even Musk’s account has been hacked to peddle crypto scams. Then there’s the accessibility problem with color-coded verified badges, as folks living with color blindness and related ocular issues will find the solution useless.
