Twitter reactivates 'Official' tag hours after removing it
What's the story
The gray tick and the 'Official' tag are back on Twitter. If you remember, the features were announced yesterday and got removed the same day. The gray and blue check mark saga on Twitter is getting hard to track. We don't know when something will happen to either. The gray badge has now reappeared below accounts belonging to governments, well-known companies, and media organizations.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Elon Musk wasn't joking when he said "Twitter will do a lot of dumb things in the coming months." The company rolled back the gray check mark and now it's back again. Twitter is yet to perfect the verification system in the Musk era. Whether it's blue or gray or both, the end result should be a platform with the fewest number of impersonators.
Blue problem
Impersonation and brand-unsafe behavior have increased on Twitter
Musk's paid Twitter Blue plan isn't working as he imagined. Twitter is flooded with fake accounts with a blue check mark. Impersonation, hoaxing, and brand-unsafe behavior have become rampant on the platform. Imposter accounts have been posting on Twitter making the new 'blue badge for all' initiative a laughing stock. This is why the "Official" tag has made a comeback.
Grey check mark
Government officials have a gray flag instead of gray tick
Today, Twitter Support tweeted, "to combat impersonation, we've added an "Official" label to some accounts." The new tag can be found under the display name of the account. Some have a gray check mark and an "Official" tag, while accounts affiliated with governments have a different label. These labels have a flag for government accounts and a podium for state-affiliated media.
State accounts
India is not eligible for the official label yet
Only Twitter accounts belonging to certain countries have the label denoting government or state-affiliated media as of now. Twitter accounts belonging to China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Belarus, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UAE are eligible for the label. India is not on the list yet.
Legacy accounts
Musk wants to remove legacy blue check marks
In the meanwhile, Musk took a dig at accounts that got their blue check mark before he acquired Twitter. He said, "far too many corrupt legacy Blue "verification" checkmarks exist, so no choice but to remove legacy Blue in coming months." Under a user's reply saying Musk is destroying the platform, he said, "$8." Well, the new CEO is certainly enjoying himself.