That being said the way Musk is going about these changes is damaging to Twitter in the short term. Will be interesting to see if Twitter survives when the dust settles.
This seems to be a recurring opinion of Twitter users, but as someone who doesn't use it I thought it was just a way to prove that some slightly public figure is who they say they are and not some imposter? It seems weird to be upset that "Elon Musk " is Elon Musk and not some crypto scammer (maybe a bad example), so I guess I'm missing something.
Verification had a "notoriety" aspect - I couldn't get verified because I'm a nobody; dang might be able to, Paul Graham for sure.
But it's also not enough. You can change your name, photo, bio, to be like someone else, even if you have the checkmark. Users have to also read the handle (unique within the app), but the page styling gives that significantly less emphasis.
Jeph Jacques, author of Questionable Content webcomic and verified Twitter user, has been having fun this week by making a parody of Musks's account. https://twitter.com/jephjacques (currently partially restricted, but you can click through)
"Name + Checkmark" doesn't make a good certificate of authenticity.
The only official "meaning" of the badge was that the user matched the identity of the profile, even though more was read into it both by users and employees. The notion that it will now be possible to "pay to impersonate" is absurd, but I have seen it being spread widely on social media and on television!
That's what they said, but what happened in actual practice is that you had to have a certain level of fame or notoriety to get a blue check. Everyone knows this, it isn't just "reading into it"
It is indeed quite obviously absurd, which is why it seems strange that so many people are assuming that this is exactly what is going to occur. It doesn't take much thinking to imagine ways they could allow anyone to get verified while not allowing impersonation. For example—and this is just the first idea that comes to mind—they could require people to consent to their username being locked in return for that checkmark.