Elon Musk’s next Twitter Blue relaunch comes on 29 November

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will relaunch its failed Twitter Blue subscription service on 29 November with a new naming rule.

Musk says that Twitter Blue will relaunch in a little less than two weeks in an attempt to “make sure that it is rock solid”. Musk’s previous attempt at launching his revamped Twitter Blue descended into farce, with accounts impersonating brands and causing chaos as a result. New accounts with verified checkmarks were able to make people believe they were the real deal, something that continues to give the platform’s advertisers pause.

While Musk hasn’t said what specific changes he and Twitter will make to Twitter Blue, he did give a hint that the company is keen to ensure that there isn’t a repeat performance. Musk says that “changing your verified name will cause [a] loss of checkmark until [the] name is confirmed by Twitter”.

That phrasing is notable because it makes it sound like Twitter will seek to confirm that verified people are who they say they are – making it sound similar to the previous system that meant verified accounts were who they said they were. The failed relaunch meant that anyone could pay for Twitter Blue and get that checkmark, verified or not.

With new release, changing your verified name will cause loss of checkmark until name is confirmed by Twitter to meet Terms of Service

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022

If we’re reading that wrong and there won’t be any checking of usernames during Twitter Blue signup, nothing is really changing here. People could simply change their names before signing up for Twitter Blue, giving them the checkmark and fake name they need to cause havoc.