An illustration of Elon Musk's Twitter account seen on a phone with the company's CEO in the background. Photo illustration: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced Monday evening that only tweets by verified users will show up in the platform's default main feed of "For You" recommendations starting April 15.
Driving the news: Musk tweeted that the move "is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over and that voting in polls "will require verification for same reason."
- "That said, it's ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service & don’t impersonate a human," Musk added.
The big picture: Twitter Verification was previously offered to public figures, but the company is winding down its "legacy" program starting April 1 and replacing it with its $8 per month subscription service.
Thought bubble: If Musk follows through with this plan, he might persuade a portion of subscription holdouts to start paying — but he'll also risk speeding up the exodus from Twitter that began when he acquired the company.
Be smart: Musk makes impulsive announcements via his tweets, but doesn't always follow through on them.
Go deeper: Twitter's checkmark chaos