Twitter Employees Allegedly Sold Verification Checkmarks For as High as $15k
Before Elon Musk took over Twitter, the social media company’s employees reportedly sold verification checkmarks for as high as $15k.
The inner workings of Twitter before Elon Musk took over are slowly being revealed as the Tesla CEO works towards achieving his vision of turning the platform into a global ‘town square where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.’
Twitter Employees Allegedly Sold Verification Checkmarks
Mr Musk’s first significant change at Twitter is the introduction of its monthly $8 subscription that provides users with a blue checkmark. Discussions around the new feature have unearthed what might be the most significant behind-the-scenes business enterprise by Twitter employees to sell the verification checkmarks at a fee.
In a Twitter thread initiated by Dogecoin creator Billy Markus, the Chairman of the Wall Street Bets community @WSBChairman revealed that employees at the social media company were selling verifications for as high as $15k. In addition, Twitter employees sometimes refused to verify some accounts through the standard application and ‘then privately offer to verify you for $$ behind the scenes.
Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, replied to the Tweet with a simple ‘Yup’, thus implying that it was a common occurrence before he took over.
The tweet by @WSBChairman elicited similar responses from the crypto-Twitter community. One member, @0xfoobar, claimed that he had been offered a verification checkmark by Twitter staff ‘for a couple of grand.’. However, he refused the offer, believing it would open the doors to potential blackmail down the road.
He explained, ‘A blue check would’ve easily added five figures of value for me. Had many offers to verify for a couple grand. I turned them down — not as a cheapskate, but as risk minimisation. Accept once, and you become a target for further extortion. Opaque procedures => blackmail.’
Many ‘Verified’ Checkmarks Were Handed Out Arbitrarily — Elon Musk
In an earlier Tweet, Elon Musk had stated that several of the verified checkmarks before he took over ‘were handed out often arbitrarily.’ He added that, in reality, these accounts are not verified as anyone could ‘buy as many as [they] want right now with a Google search.’
At the time of writing, it is unclear what will happen to profiles verified in the past and whether they will be allowed to keep their checkmarks or be forced to pay the $8 per month to keep them.
~By John P. Njui~
