How Twitter's botched implementation of paid verification became boon in disguise for internet trolls

There has not been a bigger newsmaker than Twitter since November, and some of the reasons might not be what its new owner wanted. Tesla CEO Elon Musk paid over the top and spent $44 billion to acquire 100% of the company.

Since then, the company has seen many changes, many of which have taken place in the boardroom. High-profile positions have been left vacant since former CEO Parag Agrawal was removed. Since the acquisition, Musk has reiterated the need to increase the company's revenues, and one such method seems to have been the introduction of paid blue ticks with Twitter Blue.

In less than a week since its release, the social media site has gone back on its plans and taken away the privilege of getting the blue tick at ease. The reason for that decision is something that Elon Musk has unequivocally mentioned - freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the same mechanism has resulted in gross exploitation by users who have made the most of it.

---

Twitter Blue's failure with paid verification showcases the dark side of managing the internet

Twitter's openness to free speech and opinion has always been debated. Some have claimed that there are too many restrictions on what's allowed and prohibited. Things worsened when former president Donald Trump's account got banned before Joe Biden came to power. Such moves have led to questions from some parts of the world about how much free speech is allowed in the first place.

Musk's vouching for freedom of speech is appreciable because it made the social media platform big in the first place. It's also not wrong to look at potential revenue streams as profits ensure sustainability. Unfortunately, Twitter took the wrong approach by deciding to commercialize the verified profile.

The main emphasis of one is that the information coming from it won't be fraudulent to any degree. In today's age of fake news and misinformation, the legitimacy of data is crucial. After all, big personalities, ministries, and global corporations can always be a target of impersonation.

Until last week, separating the gap between a legitimate and a false account was easy. With the new change, Twitter suddenly became an easy target for trollers and memers, who made the most of it. Thanks to the new system, anyone can access a verified account status.

It's still possible to identify which is an imposter as the username will usually be the indicator. Since no two accounts can have the same username on Twitter, it's the key differentiator. Unfortunately, it's not the easiest to notice, and many people fail to catch the subtle difference.

The greatest fallout from this is the American pharmacy giant Ely Lilly, who globally owns the patent for Insulin. A person impersonating the official profile tweeted that, moving forward, Insulin will be provided free of cost. This would be huge news if it were true. It was anything but that, but many investors failed to understand the difference.

The company lost billions in share value as investors panicked about the loss of profitability. It has rebounded since, but there are instances of how easy it is for an impersonator to mock the system. The very thing that a verified profile is supposed to prevent was caused by the new system that Twitter introduced.

There have been plenty of such instances where impersonators have posted offensive content. A similar incident like Eli Lilly's took place with aircraft giant Lockheed Martin, and there are rumors of the company losing share value as well.

Authorities have been busy removing objectionable content and banning the troll accounts. All the official accounts also use a tag to display their authenticity to help viewers. However, the decision to commercialize verified profiles showcases the massive problems that can be caused.