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Here's the official press release, which has more details than the Irish Times article: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3761 https:/

• doe_eyes 2y ago
  That's a pretty charitable interpretation of what they used to mean. You and I couldn't get "verified". The only exception for mere mortals was having a good friend at Twitter to skirt the eligibility criteria. But in general, the checkmarks a status symbol for the cultural elites: if you have a checkmark, you're an Important Person. They were reserved for celebrities, politicians, and so on. This was a dumpster fire of Twitter's own doing. It was clearly what irked Elon - and why he sought to rob the "checkmarks" of their status symbol by commoditizing it, rather than coming up with some new symbol for paying customers. This was childish, but so is the EU decision here. I doubt there's any real confusion about what the checkmarks mean today, and I don't like the idea that just because they were used in a particular way before, a private platform is forever bound by that.
  • paulgb 2y ago
    > This was a dumpster fire of Twitter's own doing. 100% agreed. I was no fan of the old system. But regardless of the arbitrary criteria for being eligible for verification, at least they did attempt to verify that the account matched the identity of its operator at the point in time that it was verified. There were stores of verified accounts falling into the wrong hands, but AFAIK there weren't cases of twitter incorrectly verifying an account belonging to someone else. > I don't like the idea that just because they were used in a particular way before, a private platform is forever bound by that. I'm not just talking about inertia, they literally use the copy "this account is verified" on my profile, today, when they have done nothing to verify my identity. There are levels of subjectivity over what is considered "verified", but to me it implies at least some basic attempt at identity verification.
  • sillyfluke 2y ago
    Since we're talking about the meaning of words, not that I cared one about blue checks pre or post Elon, seems like the previous meaning of "verified" fits...rather well to the actual definition? The fact that they go through the process or spend resources for verifying only those who fit their fancy doesn't really change the meaning of the word.
    • doe_eyes 2y ago
      I'm announcing a new and exciting "doe_eyes' bicycle rider" program. The requirements are simple: you need to have a bicycle and at least $200M in assets under management with our firm. Knowing this, if you meet a person wearing a "doe_eyes' bicycle rider" hat, is your first thought "oh hey, that person owns a bicycle"? If not, then I think it's a bit facetious to argue that the definition is technically true. If you combine a trivial criteria with a nearly-insurmountable one, the nearly-insurmountable one prevails.
      • xg15 2y ago
        I think the problem is that Twitter's definition of "verified" - and the one Twitter's users relied on - was only meaningful for "notable" persons to begin with, i.e. persons with some kind of public record. The core problem they wanted to solve was "if a user encounters an account that calls itself 'JustinBieber' how can the user determine whether or not they got the real Justin Bieber, i.e. the singer, or just some other random account". So what the badge in effect was supposed to communicate was "The person behind this account really is who you think it is". It's easy to see that this entire concept falls apart for anyone who isn't a global celebrity: What does "the real Justin Bieber" even mean? Would another, not famous person that happens to also be named "Justin Bieber" not be "real"? What about account names that don't even match a celebrity but where their fans "just know" who is meant? What does "real" mean for the account of a fictional character? Or for a random nondescript username? etc. Twitter management effectively saw all those contradictions and said "we don't care", as long as their prime usecase of keeping celebrities on the platform was served.
  • lapcat 2y ago
    > why he sought to rob the "checkmarks" of their status symbol by commoditizing it, rather than coming up with some new symbol for paying customers. Why do paying customers need any public symbol? In other words, why not get rid of blue checkmarks altogether, create a subscriber system with benefits, and... that's all? It seems to me that the only reason to reuse the blue checkmarks and publicly award them to subscribers is to entice people to pay to get some of the previous cachet of the blue checkmarks. Otherwise, what's the point? It's inherently misleading, and that's the point, the goal of the new system. Remember when Musk forced the blue checkmarks back on non-paying celebrities, whether they wanted the blue checkmarks or not? It's difficult to interpret that as other than a ploy to restore some prestige to the checkmarks and mislead Twitter readers about who has paid for them and who has not.
    • doe_eyes 2y ago
      > Why do paying customers need any public symbol? I don't know, but they do? It's a keepsake of sorts, and it drives adoption if you see that the people you respect are paying for the platform. Almost every platform with optional subscriptions does that - LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. As for the rest of your comment, I don't understand why you want me to defend Elon. As noted, I think this was childish. But I don't think it deserves regulatory intervention of any sort.
      • lapcat 2y ago
        > it drives adoption Indeed. Apparently the name has been changed now to "Premium", but originally it was "Twitter Blue". The blue checkmark was the selling point. > Almost every platform with optional subscriptions does that - LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. TIL there's a Reddit Premium symbol in user profiles. However, the Reddit Premium symbol is not displayed in posts and comments, which makes it very different from Twitter's system. > I don't understand why you want me to defend Elon. I don't. That would be entirely your choice.
    • ZeroGravitas 2y ago
      [flagged]