X Rewards Influential Users With Free Blue Ticks
- Written by Deep Shikha Content Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Last week, Elon Musk’s social media platform X started giving free blue ticks to verified users with a large following. The blue ticks meant to identify verified accounts of influential people were removed and put behind a subscription fee once Musk took over the company in 2022, sparking controversy.
In addition to the return of free blue checks, Musk announced on X that accounts with over 2,500 verified followers will get Premium features for free. Those with more than 5,000 followers will have access to Premium+ services at no charge. The option to buy X’s premium monthly subscription for about $11/month is still there for everyone else.
Users who earned blue ticks under Twitter’s previous verification system lost their verification badge when Musk decided to remove all the blue checkmarks shortly after buying Twitter. Instead, Musk mandated that accounts must pay for X’s premium monthly subscription to get a blue badge. This led to a rise in fake accounts.
Jason Goldman, who served as Twitter’s head of product before leaving in 2010, says Musk still doesn’t know the actual value of the blue check mark. According to Goldman, the significance of the blue check lies in its ability to verify the account holder’s identity.
“The value that accrued from that was for Twitter as a whole, not for the person who had a blue check mark,” Goldman told CNN .
According to CNN, Musk’s removal of old blue checks was a complicated process that took months. Major brands like Nintendo and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly were impersonated shortly after the paid verification process began.
The Eli Lilly stock dropped due to a fake announcement about lowering insulin prices, for example. X introduced new verification colors for businesses and governments in response. However, paid blue checks remained the norm for verifying accounts.
The adoption of paying for blue ticks sparked a lot of controversy when it was introduced. So, presumably, some influential X users report feeling conflicted about all of a sudden getting their blue ticks back.
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown said, “What happened? I didn’t pay for this. I would NEVER pay for this,” as reported by The Standard .
Musk’s decision to offer free blue ticks to influential users on X has sparked concerns about undermining the original purpose of verification — ensuring authenticity. By tying verification to user popularity and commercial interests, the blue tick doesn’t really signify anyone’s true identity.
Meta Study Shows Public Attitude Towards AI Chatbots
- Written by Deep Shikha Content Writer
- Fact-Checked by
Meta Platforms Inc. released a study on April 3 about people’s reactions to AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, and how they believe these bots should interact with humans. Participants’ views were tallied before and after deliberations with AI experts. Overall, the belief that “AI has a positive impact” increased after educational sessions and discussions were had about the new technology.
The research started in October 2023 , when Meta collaborated with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab and the Behavioral Insights Team on a Community Forum on Generative AI . The study used Deliberative Polling to gather opinions on AI from 1,545 people across Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the USA.
After a weekend of discussions, people were also more aware that AI chatbots might reflect existing biases from their training data. They also acknowledged the concerns about data privacy and security. In summary, talking about chatbots for a weekend made people understand the benefits as well as the possible risks.
The Community Forum revealed that while people generally see AI chatbots as a positive step forward, they emphasize the need for developers to prioritize transparency and control.
According to Bloomberg , the Meta report often mentioned “transparency,” indicating users are fine with chatbots if they’re aware they’re interacting with one. Clearly marking or introducing chatbots is a simple but crucial detail that can significantly influence people’s attitudes. This could be why Meta is focusing on labeling AI-generated content in user feeds.
While most people in the study already had a positive outlook on AI, one area of discussion that revealed a not-so-positive outlook (before and after discussion) was making AI as human-like as possible. Participants from all four countries disagreed that AI chatbots should be made as humanlike as possible, especially if the user isn’t informed. This shows that while many may see the benefits of AI tech, there’s also a sense that it’s threatening the authenticity of our own existence.
