Twitter has become a platform with no brand safety. Brands didn’t want to advertise or post on a website that could show their posts alongside hate speech. Being on Twitter could damage their brands.
Musk, looking to make up money from his advertising losses, decided to just sell the blue checkmark. The blue checkmark on Twitter is supposed to be for verifying accounts belonging to public figures and brands. It’s supposed to add legitimacy to the platform. But with Musk selling it for $8/month to whoever wanted one, it turned into a quick and hilarious way to make your mark on the internet for just $8.
Now Musk could face lawsuits as the impersonators and parody accounts that used the blue checkmark to spread jokes, memes, and, in one case, a single tweet that cost a company $30 billion in market value. Musk pulled the blue checkmark, losing another source of revenue, and further tarnishing Twitter’s once sterling brand.
Dissolving Legitimacy
Preserved by this tweet, but who knows if it’ll stay up in Musk’s Twitter?
No, no, Nintendo didn’t share a photo of Mario flipping off Twitter users. Tesla didn’t share this either:
In the past, accounts with Twitter’s checkmark were “verified.” They were trustworthy, real accounts. In a day Elon Musk undid all of that, allowing anyone to have their own checkmark for $8/month. Many of these were obviously jokes. They were parody that made light of the situation. However, in at least one case, it cost a company billions in market value in just one day.
Eli Lilly and Company is a pharmaceutical brand. They sell insulin. In the United States, insulin is priced far above what it costs to make. People with diabetes often struggle to afford insulin, which can be hundreds of dollars a month. Some try to reduce their usage of the life-saving hormone, leading to dangerous risk of injury and death. Outside of the U.S. pharmaceutical companies often offer the same or similar insulin for far more reasonable prices. The tweet was something to get excited about, unless you were an investor profiting fro those high insulin prices. The company’s valuation dropped 4.5%, billions lost in value due to Musk’s silly idea to make a quick buck.
While these comedic examples have been fun, for anyone except those profiting from the sick and desperate, not every blue checkmark has been funny. Twitter has also given the checkmark to accounts that did not have it before due to controversies, violence tied to them, and hate speech. Far-right figures like Richard Spencer, a white supremacist, and Jason Kessler, who organized the white supremacist Unite the Right Rally. That rally culminated in a white supremacist driving his car into a group of counter protesters, killing Heather Heyer. Kessler, afterward, called her a “fat, disgusting Communist,” and called her murder, “payback time.”
He now has a Twitter checkmark, previously for verifying individuals on the platform.
Anti-LGBTQ groups and pages also now have their checkmarks. “Gays Against Groomers,” an anti-transgender group that spreads misinformation about transgender people, and Libs of TikTok, which is tied to harassment of children’s hospitals, are also now verified.
The blue checkmark used to be a sign of integrity. It’s now meaningless.
Comedy is Illegal Again, Apparently
Elon Musk called himself a “free speech absolutist.” When he took over Twitter, he made this clear by allowing hate speech on the platform, firing the teams that could moderate the platform. He wanted to open up the infamous Twitter blue checkmark to non-verified accounts who were willing to pay up.
At first, some previously verified accounts that had a checkmark before Elon started selling them had an “Official” tag on their profile. Musk seemingly didn’t like this decision in the end, and decided to remove it.
Just a few days later, Musk would change his mind again.
Just a few days after Musk told Brownlee that the “blue check will be the great leveler,” he’s changed his mind. He decided that people shouldn’t be able to buy a verified checkmark. However, he hasn’t added back the “Official” checkmark yet. Though now the company may do it again.
Elon still doesn’t know what to do with the company. He’s painted himself into a corner. First he said comedy was legal, then he banned parody accounts. Soon, he’ll realize that his “free speech absolutist” stance isn’t as profitable as he thought it would be.
"Comedy is now legal on Twitter" –@elonmusk pic.twitter.com/oyZ73XSFuC
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) November 11, 2022
Yesterday, a large ad firm, the Omnicom Group Inc, recommended that clients stop advertising on Twitter. Elon Musk wanted to make up for advertising losses with Twitter Blue checkmarks. Now he can’t do that either. Elon has attempted cost cutting measures, like firing a large percentage of his team in a potentially illegal move. The company has reportedly been trying to hire some of them back. Musk is finding that his ideas aren’t profitable. Advertising made up 90% of Twitter’s profits and now, no one’s getting Twitter Blue. That’s the problem with an echo chamber, Elon, eventually you’re the only one in the room.