Elon Musk has declared that from the beginning of April 15, only verified Twitter accounts will be able to vote in polls or appear on the platform’s “For You” recommendations page. He referred to it as the “only realistic” solution to the problem of AI bots overrunning the platform.
Musk, who became the new CEO of Twitter after buying the company in October, last week declared that users with “legacy” verified accounts would no longer receive blue ticks from April. As a result, only users who pay $8 per month for Twitter Blue will be able to access blue tick verified accounts. His most recent declaration gives these verified accounts additional power.
Musk tweeted on Twitter, “Starting April 15, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations. This is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for the same reason.”
Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
The announcement was received with heavy criticism, which Musk dismissed. One Twitter user claimed that the company needed to spend money on AI technology to identify bots on the platform. He also opined that restricting voting to verified accounts would damage the platform’s reputation.
Elon Musk replied, “My prediction is that this will be the only platform you can trust.”
My prediction is that this will be the only platform you can trust
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2023
The Twitter user responded, appealing to Musk to change his mind, “I admire your work, but essentially shadow banning those who don’t wish to pay for Twitter Blue could really hurt the platform in the long run.”
Others commented that the move would effectively make their “For You” recommendations meaningless. One commenter wrote, “The for you is not actually for me.” Another commented, “Just delete the whole website, man; you clearly had zero understanding of why it was valuable in the first place.”
Musk announced last year that voting on policy-related polls will be limited to paid Twitter Blue subscribers.
