The Value of a Blue Check on Social Media

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Elon Musk: I feel like the verification of blue check isn't worth as much as it used to be. "It's very funny to me that Elon's kind of thing is like, yeah, you've got to pay to have like this sort of simulation of clout," he says. He thinks there needs to be a broader conversation about considering how much time we spend on these platforms.

Paris Marx is joined by Hussein Kesvani to discuss the mess of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the problem with his solution to blue check privilege, and what we should learn from how he posts.

Hussein Kesvani is a journalist and the co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts. Follow Hussein on Twitter at @hkesvani.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Paris wrote about Elon Musk’s new plan to allow users to pay $8 to get a blue check, priority on their posts, and other features as part of an updated Twitter Blue.
Private texts revealed from the Delaware court showed the rich and powerful groveling to Elon Musk.
A long list of companies have stopped advertising on Twitter after Musk’s takeover. He blamed it on activists.
Roko’s Basilisk brought Elon Musk and Grimes together.
Elon Musk has decreed that people making fun of him by impersonating him on Twitter will be banned.

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