Twitter's new Verified service will include gold checks for companies, Elon Musk confirms

Twitter plans to launch its updated Verified program next Friday with manual authentication and different colored check marks for different types of users, Elon Musk has tweeted. "Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates," he said.

Musk previously stated that Twitter would "probably use [a] different color check for organizations than individuals." However, this is the first time he's revealed what those colors will likely be. It's not clear if all verified users including government and industry will have to pay Twitter Blue fee of $8 per month.

In a subsequent tweet, Musk added that "individuals can have secondary tiny logo showing they belong to an org if verified as such by that org." However, all individual users will have the same blue check mark "as [the] boundary of what constitutes 'notable' is otherwise too subjective," he said.

Musk originally launched his new verification program with the idea that anyone who joins Twitter Blue for $8 a month would get a blue checkmark. As many predicted, though, the system quickly became a goat rodeo due to account impersonation and was shut down after just 48 hours. In one instance, an Eli Lilly impersonator tweeted that "insulin is free now," forcing the company to apologize for the tweet. Another Eli Lilly impersonator then apologized for the apology.

Musk originally said that the revised Verified program would launch on November 29th, but his latest tweet puts the date at December 2nd.