Elon Musk kills ‘official’ label one day after launching, Twitter manager claims it’s still alive

Elon Musk has added to the confusion that is Twitter right now by killing the ‘official’ label just one day after it was announced. But according to a Twitter product manager, it will still be going ahead for governments and commercial entities.

On Wednesday Twitter confirmed it would be creating an an “official” label for government agencies, brands, media outlets and public figures. The idea was for the label to be a be a way to identify official accounts and crack down on the spread of misinformation, scammers and impersonators.

The need for this seemed to have stemmed from the recent announcement that anyone would be able to buy a blue tick verification by subscribing to Twitter Blue for US$8 a month.

The announcement was made by Twitter product manager, Esther Crawford.

“Not all previously verified accounts will get the ‘official’ label and the label is not available for purchase,” Crawford said.

“The new Twitter Blue does not include ID verification — it’s an opt-in, paid subscription that offers a blue checkmark and access to select features. We’ll continue to experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.”

This announcement received some backlash online, with people saying the label was the same as verification, but with a new look and name.

Musk kills the official badge … but did he?

On Thursday, web producer Marques Brownlee took to the platform to report on the new ‘official’ label, which he had received but then noticed had disappeared.

Musk dropped into the comments, confirming that it had been removed.

“I just killed it,” Musk said in response to Brownlee.

“Blue check will be the great leveler”

The label had reportedly already been rolled out to other accounts.

I just killed it

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022

Musk followed up with a tweet that said “please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works and change what doesn’t”.

Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months.

We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022

But it turns out that the label may not be dead after all.

Esther Crawford followed up with a tweet, clarifying that the ‘official’ label will continue, just not for individuals right now.

“The official label is still going out as part of the @TwitterBlue launch — we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with. What you saw him mention was the fact that we’re not focusing on giving individuals the ‘Official’ label right now,” Crawford said in a tweet.

What does this mean for brands and companies moving forward? It’s difficult to say when instability continues over at Twitter with products and procedures changing on the daily. Not to mention product managers having to ‘clarify’ what Musk tweets out.

We certainly can’t blame PR and social media professionals for advising caution to their clients right now, especially when it comes to advertising spend.