Only verified accounts will appear in Twitter’s recommendation feed. This was announced by Elon Musk thus giving a further shock to the social media platform. Twitter’s “For you” tab shows users tweets from people they don’t follow, but who are recommended by the social network’s algorithm. So far the accounts of all Twitter users, verified or not, have been shown. But Musk announced that, from now on, only verified accounts will appear in the “For You” section of the site. According to the Tesla patron, this move “is the only realistic way to deal with the swarms of advanced AI bots that are taking over”.
Musk also said that only verified users will be able to vote in polls. Since he bought Twitter last year, Musk has been trying to shake up the way the company conducts audits. Prior to the acquisition of Tesla’s patron, Twitter verified users with a blue check mark to identify that the account matches the person or company it claims to be. This process was free and applied to celebrities, journalists, government officials and organizations.
Last year, Musk introduced a subscription service called Twitter Blue that allows users to pay $8 a month to get verified and blue-checked. Twitter said last week that from April 1, it will start reducing its “legacy verification program” and removing the “legacy verified” check marks. The company is inviting people with legacy checkmarks to sign up for the Twitter Blue subscription service. Musk has been trying to find ways to generate new revenue streams at Twitter, with paid verification as a flagship policy. But the company has reportedly lost a huge amount of value. Musk told employees last week that Twitter is now valued at $20 billion, according to an email sent to employees and seen by the New York Times. That’s a more than 50% reduction from the $44 billion Musk paid for the company last year.