Elon Musk to launch new blue, gold and grey Twitter ticks

Elon Musk has said Twitter verification will return next week with colour-coded categories for individuals, government accounts and companies.

More than 400,000 Twitter accounts currently have blue ticks, which marks them as an authentic source and are usually given to prominent accounts such as those belonging to celebrities, politicians, journalists, government departments and major corporations.

His previous attempt to overhaul verification, which he believes is necessary to reduce vexatious automated accounts on the platform and create much-needed revenue via subscriptions, was halted earlier this month when it led to a slew of fake accounts.

Omnicom, a major advertising group, cited the impersonation problem as one of the reasons its clients should pause advertising on Twitter.

Bloomberg reported in early November, before the botched relaunch of Blue, that government entities would not be charged for verification.