Elon Musk criticized the ‘official’ labels.
Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Getty Images
Elon Musk has called Twitter’s gray “official” labels an “aesthetic nightmare.”
The labels were rolled out on Wednesday to some public figures and news organizations.
Many labels disappeared hours later, with Musk saying he had “killed” them.
On Wednesday, Twitter launched gray labels for some “official” accounts, only for them to vanish hours later.
In a confusing rollout, the “official” labels appeared on the Twitter accounts of some public figures and news organizations. Some of them stopped appearing, however, after Twitter owner Elon Musk said he had “killed” them.
Later in the day, he called them an “aesthetic nightmare” during a Twitter Space conversation.
The billionaire has repeatedly discussed overhauling Twitter’s “blue tick” verification system since taking over the company, clashing with some public figures over the planned $8 fee.
During Wednesday’s Twitter Space, Musk said: “Apart from being an aesthetic nightmare when looking at the Twitter feed, is that it was simply another way of creating a two-class system.”
He added that the labels weren’t addressing “the core problem” that there were too many entities who would be considered “official” or given “legacy blue check marks.”
Esther Crawford, Twitter’s director of product management, sought to clarify Musk’s comments.
“The official label is still going out as part of the @TwitterBlue launch – we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with,” Crawford tweeted. “What you saw him mention was the fact that we’re not focusing on giving individuals the ‘Official’ label right now.”
Representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
The Twitter space appeared to be an attempt to reassure some of Twitter’s skittish advertisers amid concerns about content moderation on the platform.
Musk told advertisers the company was going to be “extremely vigorous” about deceptive accounts on Twitter, adding that any accounts pretending to be brands would be suspended.
Twitter’s old verification system was akin to “lords & peasants,” according to Musk, who argued that he was giving power back to users by offering paid verification.
Some are concerned the decision risks opening the door for impersonators and may lead to widespread misinformation.