Twitter, the renowned social media platform, recently rolled out its new label for verified accounts. This label was created in order to minimize confusion, as many users were under the impression that paid verified accounts had an added layer of legitimacy than legacy, non-paid verified accounts.
The new label, which is located on the profile page of the verified account, reads “Verified Account, legacy” to indicate whether it is a legacy or paid account. Legacy accounts are those that were verified before Twitter’s paid verification system was introduced. Accounts with the “legacy” tag have been verified on the platform for at least one year or have achieved notoriety or achievement in various fields and industries.
However, this change might have the unintended effect of blurring the lines between the two types of verified accounts. With this new label, it can be difficult for users to differentiate between paid and legacy verified accounts and what level of legitimacy and trustworthiness they should ascribe to each.
This confusion could lead to serious reputational damage for those with a legacy account, as users may assume that they have been paid to promote something or that they have a greater degree of success than they actually do. This could lead to users losing trust in these accounts, and in turn, users may be less likely to pay attention to their content or take their advice and recommendations seriously.
Twitter’s new label, while well-intentioned, could be producing the opposite effect of what they intended; instead of helping users to differentiate between paid and legacy accounts, it’s creating more confusion and making it harder to know which accounts are legitimate.
As such, Twitter may need to implement additional measures in order to ensure users have an accurate understanding of the type of verified account they’re engaging with, or to make the distinction between paid and legacy verified accounts clearer. Until then, users should exercise caution when engaging with whoever holds a verified account, and use additional resources to verify the trustworthiness of those accounts.
