New Delhi: The relaunch of Twitter's "Blue Verified" badge will be temporarily halted, according to Elon Musk, "until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation," he said on Tuesday.
Musk created the $8 blue tick verification scheme after he took control of the social media network, but it led to a massive growth in the number of fake accounts.
"Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation. Will probably use different colour check for organizations than individuals," Musk tweeted.
Musk has argued that the blue checkmark will be the "great leveller" in support of the heavily criticised paid verification proposal.
"Widespread verification will democratize journalism & empower the voice of the people," he tweeted.
The strategy backfired, though, when verified accounts switched to the user name "Elon Musk" in an effort to test the new Twitter owner, who calls himself a "free speech absolutist." Aside from Kathy Griffin's account, which had two million platform followers, thousands of other comparable profiles were also suspended, NDTV reported.
The suspended account of former US President Donald Trump was recently reinstated thanks to a poll run by Musk. On Twitter, approximately 15 million people cast votes, and the move's supporters narrowly prevailed.