Elon Musk Delays Introduction of Twitter’s Blue Verification to Nov. 29

Mr. Musk, who closed the $44 billion deal for Twitter late last month, has said boosting subscriptions was critical to making Twitter less dependent on digital advertising, which has accounted for about 90% of the company’s sales. 

Earlier this month, the company rolled out Twitter Blue, allowing any user to pay $7.99 a month for a verified account and other privileges.

Not long after, it halted the paid subscription program as accounts impersonating companies, celebrities and brands began populating the platform. Some impersonators posed as basketball star LeBron James, asking for a trade, and the pharmaceutical company

Eli Lilly

& Co., claiming it would drop the price of insulin to zero. 

Issues arose as soon as the new initiative rolled out. Many people said they couldn’t sign up. Then Twitter said it would launch the service after the U.S. midterm elections. There appeared to be more accounts with the blue check marks on the platform after that.

Mr. Musk, in a subsequent reply to a Twitter user on Tuesday, said those who had blue check marks prior to his purchase to the company would have their status removed. “All unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months,” he said.

The fumbled rollout follows other chaotic shifts at the company. Twitter has suffered a wave of departures, while Mr. Musk also has laid off about 50% of the company’s staff.  

Mr. Musk has also had to contend with advertisers temporarily suspending digital advertising on Twitter amid concern of how the platform may evolve under its new owner, a self-declared free-speech absolutist. 

Mr. Musk late last week invoked the specter of bankruptcy on the heels of a memo to employees in which he warned of the “dire” economic challenges facing the company, The Wall Street Journal reported recently.  

Write to Talal Ansari at [email protected]