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As I write this Elon Musk is fully embracing hell. The new owner of Twitter is not going to have a good time, and we’re all pretty sure of it. This is good. But you get what you pay for.
Casey Newton has the first scoop: Elon is thinking about monetising Twitter’s famed blue tick (linked below). It’s hard to think of anything funnier. Truly, making people pay for a verification perk that was initially rolled out to ensure viability and reliability of journalists on the platform, before then becoming essentially meaningless, is the action of a man already looking for the Easiest and the Quickest options first.
It is hard to think of something that will play more aggressively with the absolute worst of people's motivations for being on the app. Lose the checkmark, shed any elitism or digital classism you have spent years telling yourself was actually good and real because you needed to be verified for your job. Keep it, and not only do people know exactly who you are – they know you paid for it, too.
Verify your identity. Why not. Send your license number to Twitter HQ.
Anyway, hope you liked the newsletter this week, folks. And sorry if it all comes off as depressing. I’ll try and bring the mood up later.
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