New Delhi: Billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter social media platform will introduce the “Official” designation for select verified accounts, including major media outlets and governments, when it launches its new $8 premium subscription product, executive director of early-stage products Esther Crawford said on Tuesday.

Twitter’s Official label for verified accounts

Crawford also confirmed that the improved Twitter Blue subscription product, which will allow paid users to wear blue checkmarks on their accounts, will not actually verify users’ identities.

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. pic.twitter.com/0p2Ae5nWpO

— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022

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The lack of identity verification is likely to raise concerns about the possibility of people impersonating public figures.

Those concerns have already caused Twitter to delay the launch of a new version of Twitter Blue until Tuesday’s US midterm elections, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of security and integrity, tweeted. Identity verification is tricky, Roth says, because it signals authenticity and notability.

He even defended the $8 verification fee. He wrote: “But it’s not just about the $8 — this kind of in-app purchase requires bad actors to get past not only Twitter’s defenses, but also those of mobile device manufacturers and payment processors. That’s not impossible for a sophisticated adversary – but it’s hard to do at scale.”

He adds, “No identity solution is perfect, and we’re iterating quickly to find the best approach here.”

Not all previously verified accounts will get the “Official” label and the label is not available for purchase. Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures.

— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022

Fake accounts for government officials are a recurring problem on Twitter worldwide, according to sources familiar with the matter and researchers.

Not all Twitter accounts previously verified with a blue check will get the “Official” label, and the label cannot be purchased, Crawford said.

Accounts that will receive the official designation include governments, commercial companies, business partners, mainstream media, publishers and some other public figures, she tweeted.

Introducing the new label alongside the existing checkmarks “creates a confusing system” where some but not all previously verified accounts will be considered official, said Jason Goldman, a former Twitter board member who served as a product lead in the early years.

“It’s a complete mess,” he said.

The official designation comes after internal pressure from Twitter’s policy leaders, who had strong concerns that government officials around the world would be unlikely and willing to pay for verified checkmarks, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Twitter, which has lost many members of its communications team, did not respond to a request for further comment.

Crawford added on Tuesday that Twitter will “continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.”