Elon Musk’s social media giant X, formerly known as Twitter, has introduced a new feature that allows paid users to verify their accounts using government-issued IDs through an Israel-based identity verification company.
TechCrunch reports that in a move it claims will enhance user security and combating impersonation, X/Twitter has rolled out a government ID-based verification system for its paid subscribers. The company has joined forces with Israel-based identity verification firm Au10tix to facilitate this process. The new feature, however, is not available to users in the European Union, the European Economic Area, and the UK, likely due to the stringent data protection laws in these regions.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
“X currently focuses on account authentication to prevent impersonation and may explore additional measures, such as ensuring users have access to age-appropriate content and protecting against spam and malicious accounts, to maintain the integrity of the platform and safeguard healthy conversations,” Elon Musk’s company said in a statement.
The verification process involves a pop-up that indicates Au10tix could store the user’s data for up to 30 days. Once verified, users will receive a note on their profile stating that their government ID has been verified. This note is only visible when clicking on the blue checkmark on the user’s profile page.
The company also mentioned that users who undergo this verification process will receive “prioritized support from X Services,” although the specifics of what this entails remain unclear. Critics say the process of ID-based verification seems unnecessary and so far appears to provide little benefit.
X/Twitter has future plans to expedite the review process for verified accounts. Verified users will also have the flexibility to make frequent changes to their names, usernames, or profile photos without losing their verification status. However, this feature is currently limited to paid users, raising questions about its accessibility for the broader user base.
“This will additionally help us tie, for those that choose, an account to a real person by processing their government-issued ID,” X/Twitter said in a statement to Bloomberg. “This will also help X fight impersonation attempts and make the platform more secure.”
The introduction of this feature comes months after X/Twitter discontinued its legacy verification program and removed checkmarks from accounts. The move had caused significant unrest among users, leading the company to reinstate the checkmark for top accounts.
Read more at TechCrunch here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan