Controversial Blue service with verification to return next week: Musk

New Delhi, Nov 13

After facing a barrage of fake profiles with verified badges, Elon Musk on Sunday said that the $8 Blue subscription service, pulled back by the company after facing strong criticism, is likely to be back by the end of next week.

Twitter paused its Blue service with verification after facing a slew of criticism last week as people bought the verified badge with Blue service, created fake accounts imitating big brands like Eli Lilly and Mario, and posted false tweets that left several brands embarrassed and had to issue statements.

When a follower asked Musk when can we expect Blue service to be back, he replied: "Probably end of next week".

The new Twitter CEO earlier introduced a gray 'Official' page for government and public figures, but "killed" it some hours later.

In yet another flip-flop, Musk again brought back the gray 'Official' verification badge for some accounts in select parts of the world, as impersonated accounts flourished on the platform.

However, these "Official" badges are not visible in all countries and most of the gray badges are visible within the US at the moment.

Musk also said that Twitter Spaces, live audio conversations on the platform, should evolve as "it has potential to be truly great".

Twitter Spaces is a live audio conversation feature within the app that allows users with more than 600 followers to create audio chat rooms as hosts or join them as speakers or listeners.

"Twitter drives a massive number of clicks to other websites/apps. Biggest click driver on the Internet by far," said Musk.

He has said that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.

"We will keep what works & change what doesn't," the new Twitter CEO posted.