(Updated) Twitter to Roll Out Another “Official” Label for Select Accounts

Twitter is preparing to roll out a new “Official” label for select accounts that will be different from the existing blue checkmark, which is now a paid Twitter Blue feature. The company making the blue checkmark a paid feature has been presented by CEO Elon Musk as a way to get rid of the previous “lords & peasant system,” which the exec said was “bullshit.” However, this new “Official” label for select Twitter accounts seems to reproduce the exact same thing.

“A lot of folks have asked about how you’ll be able to distinguish between Twitter Blue 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,” tweeted Esther Crawford, Director of Product Management at Twitter. “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,” she continued.

In other words, the new “Official” label will do the same thing as the previous blue checkmark on Twitter, which purpose was to indicate that an account has been verified by humans. However, it’s not exactly clear how Twitter will determine which accounts deserve to get this new “Official” label.

Going forward, the blue checkmark that Twitter users can get by subscribing to Twitter blue won’t require an ID verification, unlike the previous system. To prevent people from abusing it to impersonate other people or brands, Elon Musk said that a new condition for signing up to Twitter Blue will be to not pretend to be someone else on the platform without clearly specifying “parody” on your account. Failing to do so will lead to a permanent suspension with no warning.

“We’ll continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types,” Crawford said yesterday. It’s probably going to be confusing for Twitter users to see two different checkmarks on some accounts going forward, but it’s probably not going to be the worst idea coming from the company under this new management.

Update 10 AM PT: It looks like Twitter had second thoughts about this “Official” label and has now canceled it. “I just killed it,” Elon Musk tweeted in a reply to a tweet from YouTuber MKBHD who had seen the label disappear on his account today. “Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t,” the Twitter CEO also said in another tweet.