Twitter owner, Elon Musk, has explained why users paying for verification on the platform will not need special identity checks.
According to him, the identities of Twitter Blue subscribers will be verified by the ‘conventional payment system’.
This presupposes that Twitter Blue subscribers will have to sign up using a credit or debit card and have their payments processed through the app stores’ in-app purchase system, which will ultimately help to combat fraud and checkmate impersonation.
Musk explained this during a live-streamed meeting with Twitter advertisers hosted on Twitter Spaces on Wednesday, where he spoke about his vision for the company.
Other future plans: According to TechCrunch, part of Elon Musk’s plans for the company appears to be fintech-related. In other words, Twitter could be planning to establish bank accounts and lure existing Twitter users with high-paying interest rates. The social media company will not be the first to adopt this strategy. For instance, Apple recently launched a Savings Account feature for its cardholders.
If the plan comes to fruition, Twitter would find itself competing with fintech or other payment providers like PayPal and Venmo.
Background story: Earlier this week, Twitter’s Director of Product Management, Esther Crawford, disclosed that Twitter Blue will not be based on identity verification. Instead, she said it is just a paid subscription that anybody can opt in and out of.
She explained that this is why Twitter is also introducing the ‘Official’ label to distinguish between subscribers with paid blue checkmarks and verified official accounts.
She also clarified that accounts that are eligible to receive the ‘official label’ include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers, and some public figures.
Before now, Twitter verification was to authenticate the identity of an account owner. It used to involve a long process, including the submission of national IDs to verify the identity of an account owner.
Editing by Emmanuel Abara Benson