Elon Musk says that Twitter plans to launch its new verified service next week with different coloured check marks for various types of accounts.
The Twitter chief executive said that, going forward, a gold check mark will be used to verify companies, a grey coloured check mark will be used for government accounts, and the existing blue check mark will continue to be used to verify individuals, including celebrities.
All verified accounts will be “manually authenticated” before the check mark is activated, Musk said in a Tweet.
Musk’s comments come after he was forced to pause a planned $8 U.S. per month Twitter Blue service, which allowed anyone to pay for a blue verification check mark. Users quickly abused the system by impersonating brands and famous people, leading to the program being abruptly halted.
Musk said that Twitter will continue to delay the relaunch of its $8 U.S. per month Blue Verified service. Musk had previously planned to relaunch Twitter Blue on November 29.
The planned subscription service comes as Musk seeks to find new revenue streams for Twitter. In recent weeks, Musk has fired thousands of employees and asked remaining workers at the social media company to commit to working “long hours at high intensity.”
