Twitter Blue ✔️: here's how the controversial new verification system works

The update, which gives your account the verified blue check for eight dollars a month, caused a surge of impersonation accounts.

The new Twitter verification is here. Elon Musk updated the social network on Wednesday, and problems with the system began. The most important was impersonation. By subscribing to Twitter Blue, users who pay the monthly subscription will have a blue check next to their name, even if they pretend to be other people or even companies and government institutions.

CNN confirmed that many fake accounts were suspended just hours after Twitter Blue hit the market. Nintendo, former President Donald Trump and basketball player LeBron James were among those affected by these fake accounts. In fact, Donald Trump's fake profile even shamed the process implemented by Twitter's new owner: "This is why Musk's plan doesn't work." The fake account was promptly shut down.

(Twitter)

After the bug was discovered, Twitter began suspending the fake accounts and looked for a solution. The first option they put in place was to display a double check: one next to the name, which indicates that the account subscribes to Twitter Blue, and another gray check, located just below the profile name which indicates whether the account is official.

(Twitter)

However, that option was short-lived. Within hours, Musk was replying to YouTuber Marques Brownlee assuring that he had "killed" double verification, as he wanted blue verification to be "the great leveler."

With this, the problem of account impersonation returned. There was no longer any way of knowing which accounts were real and which were fake, or so it seemed. The new method to check whether a profile is an impersonation is to click on the blue verification icon. When doing so, a small window opens indicating whether that user has that icon for simply paying for Twitter Blue or for being a notable public figure.

(Twitter)

According to Musk, the solution is temporary, and his team will continue to add new features and modify existing ones to improve Twitter as much as possible: