Elon Musk explained during a Twitter Space why he decided to remove the “Official” Twitter tags from accounts just hours after launch.
Elon Musk’s eight-dollar Twitter verification plan finally launched on November 9, alongside a secondary “Official” tag that verified government accounts, content creators, media, publications, and more.
Shortly after its launch, however, it was met with backlash from tons of users who didn’t like the design aspect of having two verification marks.
Elon quickly removed the extra badge from profiles and explained why he did so just a few hours later.
Elon Musk explains why he scrapped Twitter “Official” badge
During a Twitter-wide ‘Spaces’ conversation hosted by Chief Twit (Musk’s self-appointed nickname), he was asked about the quick withdrawal of the “Official” verification badges.
“Apart from it being an aesthetic nightmare when looking at the Twitter feed it is simply another way of creating a two-class system,” Elon Musk said.
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“It wasn’t addressing the core problem of there are too many entities that would be considered official or have legacy blue check marks.”
The “two-class system” mentioned by Musk today is in reference to his tweet announcing the $8 verification system, where he called the existing setup the “Lords & Peasants” system.
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
It’s unknown whether or not he will decide to bring back another variation of the short-lived “Official” badge, but we’ll be sure to update if he does.
Alongside the new Twitter Blue verification system came a new set of guidelines for users, including the mention of rules you must abide by with your subscription.