Elon Musk agrees Twitter staff privately sold verification for more than $15,000

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SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to his personal Twitter account to agree that verification checkmarks were egregiously handed out in the past, with some even sold privately for thousands of dollars.

Since Elon Musk officially became the owner of Twitter, the SpaceX CEO has been extremely active on his personal Twitter account, which he seems to be using for all small and major Twitter announcements. In response to Musk's recent announcement of Twitter Blue costing $8 and the contentious nature of verification check marks being a paid feature, Shibetoshi Nakamoto took to Twitter to suggest the paid Twitter Blue subscriber badge, and the verified account badge should be separated, not conflated. Nakamoto suggested there should be a different badge for Twitter Blue and a different badge for a verified account.

Musk responded to this Twitter thread and said that there have been "far too many legacy "verified" checkmarks were handed out", and sometimes they were given to accounts that didn't deserve them. Furthermore, Musk added that individuals can buy verified Twitter accounts "with a Google search", and that a much better way to ensure verification is "piggybacking off payment system plus Apple/Android". Using Apple/Android payment systems as a way to verify accounts seems to be Musk's course of action.

This thread sparked a reply from WallStreetBets Chairman, who claimed that most people that are upset about spending $8 a month on their verification are upset because they have spent $15,000 in the past to receive the verification privately from a Twitter employee. Chairman went on to claim that Twitter employees were refusing to verify some accounts, including Chairman's, and then would turn around to these accounts and offer verification checkmarks privately for upwards of $15,000. Chairman called for an investigation to be launched to find out who these Twitter employees were/are.

Musk responded to the call for an investigation and the overall story of Twitter's verification checkmarks egregiously being handed out to users by writing "yup".

In other news, Kanye West, now officially known as Ye, has returned to Instagram with one post and then immediately got banned again. More on that story can be found in the link below. SpaceX has managed to land the largest operational rocket successfully. In other Elon Musk news, the Tesla CEO has announced the list of new features users will get if they decide to get Twitter Blue for $8 a month.

• Read more: Elon Musk reveals what you'll get on Twitter if you pay $8 a month
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• Read more: Kanye West returns to Instagram with one post, immediately gets banned again