Twitter Quickly Scraps ‘Official’ Badges for High-Profile Users

Twitter Inc. rolled out a new “official” badge for high-profile accounts and then just as quickly scrapped the program, with Elon Musk saying the company would do further experiments.

Twitter scraps ‘Official’ badges for high-profile users. (AFP)

Twitter Inc. rolled out a new “official” badge for high-profile accounts and then just as quickly scrapped the program, with Elon Musk saying the company would do further experiments under his ownership.

“Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,” he tweeted after saying that he had killed the program. “We will keep what works & change what doesn't.”

The short-lived “official” badge was used to label government figures, businesses, major media outlets and some public figures. Twitter users noticed it appearing on more accounts overnight, and it drew some puzzled reactions, with some suggesting it looked cluttered beneath the existing blue verified badge.

Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., acquired Twitter last month for $44 billion and embarked on a flurry of changes. After unseating top management and the board, he laid off roughly half the company's workers last week -- though some employees were asked to come back.

His ideas for Twitter's verified badges -- known as blue checks -- have drawn particular scrutiny. Musk plans to let users who pay $8 a month get the badges, which have been used to help celebrities, public figures and organizations protect their identities on the platform.