Twitter Could Give Free Blue Badge Verification To 500 Advertisers And Leading Media Outlets

Twitter is ramping up its efforts to ensure users on the app are verified as the company says it’s one of the major means through which it can keep a check on bots on the app.

Just last week, we saw Elon Musk announce more exclusive features for Twitter Blue Subscribers. The tech billionaire was also seen speaking about how he would be excluding non-paying members from taking part in polls.

And today, we’re hearing the company impose a striking $1000 verification fee for companies using the app. But it’s not that bad because the top 500 advertisers would be attaining it for free. The same would be the case for those companies who are deemed to be a part of the 10,000 most followed firms out there today that attained verification in the past.

The news was confirmed through an internal document that was published by the New York Times today. Therefore, all such accounts that do end up buying verification would now be going through reviews to make sure they were not taking part in any form of impersonation behavior.

The charge in pricing for various firms may actually cause a huge impact on the tech billionaire’s marketing plans. Remember, verification badges are integral tools for firms as they help to establish legitimacy and great credibility on the app. In the same way, they’re serving as indicators of accounts being authentic and assist in developing trust with audience members too.

So if the platform does end up charging this fee for verification, it might make things all the more difficult for those brands that are startups or working on smaller scales to get the badge. And in the end, it would really cause a downfall in their followers who wouldn’t want to engage with them further, assuming they’re unreliable.

But seeing Twitter make these big exceptions for leading advertisers means it can create playing fields that just aren’t even. So many smaller companies would suffer and be overshadowed by the bigger ones.

Twitter made it very clear in December of last year how it would remove its old standards of verification and say hello to newer subscription plans that were paid called Twitter Blue. These old badges are going to be removed on April 1 and the latest update on this front is how many top media outlets claim they’re not interested in joining Musk’s bandwagon.

To help prevent them from feeling left out, Musk has planned to offer them free Blue Verification as mentioned in a new report today.

It’s all thanks to CNN reporter Oliver Darcy who posted through his account on Twitter that the app was going to give leading media firms the verification for free. It’s interesting how these changes are coming when Darcy pointed out that the NYT was a part of those who did not wish to pay any additional monthly fee for the Blue Badge on the app.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World