Elon Musk, Surprising Absolutely No One, Suspends Twitter Blue After Just 2 Days

Less than 48 hours after its launch, Twitter Blue, Elon Musk’s pay-to-play verification system, now appears to be offline, marking the almost inevitable suspension to a service that sparked widespread concerns among users from the get-go. The $8-per-month product granted any paying subscriber a blue verification badge without asking for proof of identity.

After being officially introduced Wednesday morning, Twitter Blue triggered a cascade of chaos and confusion on the platform. Countless “blue check” accounts impersonating celebrities, corporations, and even the pope began flooding the platform. Some white supremacists also subscribed to the service, with at least one neo-Nazi posting racist and antisemitic screeds under a verified badge. But as of Friday morning, the platform’s iOS app removed the option to sign up for Twitter Blue for most users.

In an internal memo obtained by Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer, Twitter staff noted that it was suspending the service “to help address impersonation issues.”

 “An update on what we did tonight: hid the entry point to Twitter Blue, added the ‘official’ label for ONLY advertisers,” read a Twitter Slack message published by Schiffer. “Note: here is at least one way for users to sign up for Blue. Legacy Blue users can go to subscriptions and upgrade.” The memo did note that existing subscribers—presumably those who have not yet been suspended for racism or impersonations—“will still have access to their Blue features.”

Earlier on Friday, Twitter announced (to the confusion of many users) that it had restored its gray “official” badge, a clunky, separate form of verification meant to differentiate some important accounts from would-be impersonators. The “official” badges had originally launched in tandem with Twitter Blue but were “killed” by Musk on Wednesday.

The relaunch of the “official” badge appears to be a stopgap attempt at addressing the concerns of corporations and advertisers. Notable among them was Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company that recently condemned a fake but verified impersonator who tweeted, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” In response, the real company account tweeted an apology “to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account.” While the fake Eli Lilly account was eventually suspended, other major brands, including Chiquita, Pepsi, and Tesla, faced similar debacles, forcing Twitter’s depleted trust and safety team into a game of regulatory Whac-a-Mole.

In addition to its “official” badge, Twitter has also sought to distinguish authentic accounts by including clickable fine print under every verified badge revealing whether the user is a Twitter Blue subscriber or a notable entity in “government, news, entertainment, or another designated category.” Still, the system has caused its own host of issues; after a fake account for Senator Ed Markey popped up this week, the Massachusetts Democrat tweeted that the platform had mistakenly labeled his impersonator as a “notable government account.”

“Last night, I was easily impersonated and the account was quickly verified,” wrote Markey. “The rapid platform changes and removal of these safeguards are dangerous and Twitter and its leadership have a responsibility to the public to ensure the platform doesn’t become a breeding ground for manipulation and deceit.”