Content creator and esports team owner MoistCr1tikal slammed Twitter’s potential new plan for verifying users today posed by recently appointed Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
After months of attempts, Musk finally purchased Twitter in a $44 billion deal and appointed himself as CEO on Oct. 28. Only days after acquiring the company, Musk has already touted his plans to reform the platform. Chiefly among Musk’s priority list is revamping the verification system.
The South African businessman condemned the social media platform’s past verification system, writing that the “lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.” Instead, Musk intends on making Twitter verification a paid-for system that comes with the app’s seldom-used premium service, Twitter Blue.
Though Musk boasts that the new system would act as a “revenue stream to reward content creators,” many users have been loathing this potential change. One particular critic, popular YouTube creator and Twitch streamer MoistCr1tikal, had other ideas for what users could do with $8 rather than pay for verification.
“Blue checkmarks on here are already silly but imagine paying $8 a month for it,” MoistCr1tikal said. “You get more value flushing $8 down a toilet. You’re basically just paying for a badge that lets people identify you as an idiot.”
Various other Twitter users shared MoistCr1tikal’s sentiment, arguing that the verification badge is being treated as a status symbol rather than its intended purpose. Others have cited the abundant potential for identity fraud as another reason to ax the idea.
Despite the many criticisms shared by MoistCr1tikal and others, it appears that Twitter is on track to implement its new paid-for verification system in the coming months.
