It didn’t take long for Elon Musk to completely upset Twitter. Among other controversial decisions, paying for Verified status previously earned “on merit” is the most worrying. The most cautious Internet users will not only be charged for the certificate, but also, will only have name certificate.
$20 a month to keep the blue shot? Damn, they have to pay me. If this gets institutionalized, I’ll go like Enron.
—Stephen King (@StephenKing) 31 October 2022
Fantasy tycoon Stephen King is one of Twitter’s most well-known members. He was one of the first to rebel, and how it happened when Elon Musk said on Twitter that he would pay for certification. “$20 to hide my blue dot? Anything ! I’m the one who has to pay. If this decision is made, I”. The author of “The Shining” raises the real problem: Twitter’s content is created by its members. The service is just a platform that conveys people’s words.. If they leave (because they have to pay) it is worthless.
Twitter wants Certification to pay and do it without verification
Thanks to Stephen King’s projection, Elon Musk has royally agreed to lower a possible subscription price to €8. Not sure if the public would follow along, plus probably fed up with all this agitation, many users went to a rival platform, Mastodon. And in this case, as TechRadar points out, it’s the open door to all the bots and other trolls that fill the aisles of the Web. Worse still: there will be no further verification. It will be enough to pay to be free to pollute the discussions and/or spreading false information.
The risk is not just spoiling the atmosphere. Internet users’ security is well and truly in danger. Nothing can stop hacker groups from taking advantage of the situation. Spreading malware freely or abusing the naivete of Twitter members, anything will be possible as long as they pay their subscription. Twitter is said to be losing more than half of its workforce. It’s a safe bet that many of the employees responsible for account verification are part of the party.
