Don't get scammed: Why you can't trust Elon Musk's Twitter right now

Parody and fake accounts have always existed on Twitter, but this kind of mayhem takes all that to a different level.

- ALAINA YEE

If you don’t use Twitter often, you may be unaware of how the site has dissolved into organizational chaos. But it’s a mess right now—and dangerous as a result.

Prior to the company’s sale to Elon Musk, Twitter had a verification process that confirmed the identity of account owners. If the program found that you were who you claimed to be, a blue checkmark (or gray for the dark mode theme) would appear next to your name. It helped reduce harassment of highly public figures, and allowed users to easily recognize official accounts held by government agencies, newspapers, medical professionals, airlines, large corporations, and other sources of vital information.

But last week, a major (and hugely confusing) change rolled out to the system. The tweak? The verification part got dropped—but Twitter didn’t actually tell people that the badge meant something different now, and it did not send any emails or notifications to all its users. So here’s what you need to know.

THAT WORD DOESN’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

The move allows subscribers to Twitter Blue (fave.co/3HA4ucX), the company’s optional paid membership, to gain a blue checkmark. No identity vetting is performed. You simply pay $8 per month and get the same scalloped badge as entities like government officials and media outlets.