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Elon Musk Announces Latest Twitter Verification Changes, Impacts ‘For You’ Feed and Polls

Photo by Alexander Shatov via Unsplash

Elon Musk Announces Latest Twitter Verification Changes, Impacts ‘For You’ Feed and Polls

By Movieguide® Contributor

Elon Musk’s latest round of Twitter upheavals includes doing away with legacy verifications and limiting additional features exclusively to paid-verification service users.

“Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations,” Musk tweeted. “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.”

The “For You” page is an algorithmically curated space where Twitter shares a blend of tweets from people you follow along with recommended tweets. In the past, this system has not relied on verification status to decide what gets placed on a user’s feed.

Similarly, until now, there has never been a qualification for users to vote in polls. Musk likely got this idea in December of last year when he ran a poll asking if he should step down as the CEO of Twitter. The winning response was yes, with 57.5% of the votes. However, multiple users argued spam bots had been implemented to swing the vote. The suggested solution was to add a feature that allows those running polls to limit voting to verified users only, an idea Musk agreed with.

The company also announced last week that they would be winding down the legacy verification program, stripping users who are verified this way of their status starting April 1st.

Currently, any user can purchase Twitter Blue for $11/month through an in-app purchase on their phone or $7/month through the website itself. The subscription service previously had limited value, offering few advantages from the free version of the site, but changes such as the ones slated for April have made it a more enticing and worthwhile investment.

Movieguide® previously reported on Musk’s changes to Twitter’s verification system: 

Musk said that he wants to do away with the current system for the blue checkmark, which previously indicated verified users.

The SpaceX founder said that he wants to implement a paid subscription of $7.99/month for Twitter users to receive the blue check-mark.

“Far too many corrupt legacy Blue ‘verification’ checkmarks exist, so no choice but to remove legacy Blue in coming months,” Musk wrote in a tweet.

The term ‘legacy” referred to Twitter’s old system of handing out check-marks to profiles with high follower counts and media notoriety.

“Blue check will be the great leveler,” Musk added in another Tweet.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.