Nov 15, 2022 14:48:00

Elon Mask ignored reports on the possibility of Twitter's ``charging of authenticated badges'' being abused

Mr. Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter, has released '

New Twitter Blue ' where you can buy authenticated badges for 1200 yen per month as a way to improve profitability. The verified badge, which appears as a blue checkmark next to an account name on Twitter, has long been used to tell whether an account is official or fake, but now anyone can purchase a verified badge. The number of malicious ``spoofed accounts that have purchased authenticated badges'' has increased rapidly . As a result, Twitter has temporarily suspended sales of Twitter Blue. Regarding the paid for authenticated badges, which became a big problem, a report warning of the possibility of being abused inside Twitter was prepared in advance and submitted to Mr. Elon Mask, but Mr. Mask ignored this. It became clear that they had decided to sell authenticated badges.

Elon only trusts Elon - by Casey Newton and Zoë Schiffer
https://www.platformer.news/p/elon-only-trusts-elon

With Twitter allowing anyone to purchase authenticated badges, the number of ``impersonation accounts that have purchased authenticated badges'' has surged on Twitter. In fact, if you read the following article, you can understand what kind of situation was happening due to the rapid increase in 'impersonation accounts that purchased authenticated badges'.

Twitter has made it possible to purchase authenticated badges, so there are a lot of fake accounts impersonating official - GIGAZINE

There were also many spoofed accounts that posted tweets with political content, so a major advertising agency who was concerned about the impact developed into a situation where customers were recommended to ``stop advertising on Twitter''. Since advertising accounts for 90% of Twitter's revenue, it is ironic that the measures taken by Mr. Mask to improve revenue ultimately led to further deterioration in revenue.

Due to the large number of spoofed accounts on Twitter, major advertising agencies also recommend customers to ``stop advertising on Twitter''-GIGAZINE

However, as of November 9, before Twitter began selling verified badges, the company's trust and safety team told Musk, 'There are clearly harmful consequences to selling verified badges on Twitter Blue. Platformer's report revealed that he had submitted a 7-page internal report pointing out. According to Platformer, 'This internal report is eerily accurate in predicting what will happen with the sale of verified badges on Twitter Blue.'

The report begins with a warning: ``Motivated scammers and unscrupulous merchants may be willing to buy verified badges to make a profit.'' Additionally, the report notes that once verified badges become available for purchase by anyone, there could be a surge in “impersonation of world leaders, advertisers, brand partners, election officials and other public figures.” .

It seems that the report had already been circulated within the company as of November 1. At this time, Mr. Mask planned to sell Twitter Blue, which allows him to purchase authenticated badges, for $ 99 a year (about 14,000 yen), but after that, he talked with writer Stephen King about the cost. I decide to reduce it to '8 dollars per month (1200 yen per month in Japan)'. Platformer pointed out that this price reduction has made it possible to easily purchase authenticated badges for impersonation accounts.

The report also points out that if the number of impersonated accounts surges, celebrities, brands, and businesses that are victims of impersonated accounts may leave Twitter. Taking away privileges (allowing anyone to purchase a verified badge) can confuse high-profile users and even lead to a loss of trust in the platform.' We are managing the risk of being ripped off, but there is a possibility that this will be abolished (by allowing anyone to purchase an authenticated badge), leading to user abandonment.'

Twitter does not have a system for automatically stripping verified badges from accounts that have acquired verified badges, but this risk is also pointed out in the report, ``Twitter has about 400,000 verified badges. We have accounts, but if they decide not to pay for the new Twitter Blue, we're going to have to strip a lot of accounts of their verified badges, which is expensive to do. will be required.' In addition, it seems that the report proposes a solution such as continuing to give authenticated badges to famous accounts that have already acquired authenticated badges without purchasing Twitter Blue.

The report was submitted to Esther Crawford, Twitter's director of product management and one of Musk's closest associates, and Musk was also briefed on the report by his legal counsel, Alex Spiro, Platformer reports. I'm here. However, although Mr. Crawford agreed with most of the report, it seems that he was negative about delaying the release of the new Twitter Blue. As a result, the sale of authenticated badges via Twitter Blue started as originally planned, causing the above-mentioned catastrophe.