Elon Musk says Twitter will launch ‘Verified’ service next week

Elon Musk said in a tweet on Friday that Twitter will launch its delayed “Verified”[ads1]; service next week with different colored checks depending on account type.

The Twitter boss said there would be a “gold check” for companies, a gray one for public accounts and the existing blue one for individuals, whether they’re celebrities or not.

All verified accounts will be “manually authenticated” before the check is activated, Musk said.

The billionaire called the move “Painful, but necessary”

Musk’s comments come after he was forced to pause the $8-a-month Twitter Blue service, which allowed anyone to pay the subscription for the blue verification check, after users abused the system by impersonating brands and famous people.

The CEO said Monday that Twitter would delay the relaunch of its $8-per-month Blue Verified service. At the time, Musk said that Twitter “will probably use [a] different color check for organizations than individuals.”

Now he has given details of what it might look like.

Musk had previously said he planned to relaunch Twitter Blue on November 29. Musk’s latest timeline puts the relaunch on December 2nd.

The subscription service is Musk’s attempt to find a new revenue stream at Twitter as part of the billionaire’s controversial shakeup at the social media firm.

Musk has fired thousands of employees on Twitter and told the remaining workers to commit to working “long, high-intensity hours” or quit.