Twitter to add ‘official’ badge to prominent accounts in place of verification check

Twitter is now introducing an ‘official’ badge separate from the blue verification check mark that its new CEO Elon Musk recently announced will cost users $8 a month.

Under the new plan, the blue check mark will now denote that a user has paid the monthly charges while the ‘official’ badge will identify prominent accounts such as government accounts, commercial companies, media outlets and “some public figures”.

“A lot of folks have asked about how you'll be able to distinguish between TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the “Official" label to select accounts when we launch,” Twitter’s product manager Esther Crawford said in a tweet on Wednesday.

“Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures,” she added.

Even so, Crawford noted that not all previously verified accounts will get the “Official” label, nor will the label be available for purchase like the blue check mark.

 “The new Twitter Blue does not include ID verification – it’s an opt-in, paid subscription that offers a blue checkmark and access to select features. We’ll continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types,” she added.

Twitter was set to roll out the Blue feature, in which anyone can purchase a blue check on Monday, but the rollout was delayed until after Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.

TechCruch reports that the delay was in an attempt to curb abuse, by removing the possibility of verified users impersonating political figures or news outlets claiming false results that may discourage others from voting.

Earlier this week, Musk said Twitter users engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying it as a "parody" account will be permanently suspended without a warning.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Musk said Twitter previously issued a warning before the suspension, but as Twitter is rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning as well as "no exceptions."

"This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue," Musk said, adding any name change will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark.