Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among the public figures with a new “official” tag on Twitter.
Twitter is rolling out a new gray checkmark designating “official” accounts.
A number of public figures had the new gray tag Wednesday morning.
It’s separate from Elon Musk’s proposed $8-per-month subscription for the typical blue checkmark.
Elon Musk’s Twitter began rolling out a new way to designate “official” accounts of celebrities, elected officials, and news outlets this week.
A gray tag, with a checkmark and the word “Official” now appears under the names of a number of public figures and institutions. Their original blue checkmarks, that designated them as verified users, still appeared.
The accounts with the new gray tag included media outlets like Insider, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and CNN; the NBC players Kyrie Irving and LeBron James; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has caught Musk’s ire on Twitter in the days since he bought the site for $44 billion weeks ago.
It appeared that official accounts were gradually receiving the updated gray tag Wednesday. Musk himself, though, did not have one as of Wednesday morning around 10:30 am EST.
The new gray tags are separate from the subscription Musk has proposed for getting verified. Musk intends to remodel the Twitter Blue subscription model, and charge users $7.99 per month for the traditional blue Twitter checkmark and other features.
In other words, the gray checkmark now designates the verified account of a public figure. A blue check will mean the user simply signed up for the new Twitter Blue.
While the new gray tag appears under a person’s name in their tweets, the blue checkmark has typically been associated with verified accounts of public figures and government institutions.
It’s unclear if the new Twitter Blue has officially launched, but Twitter has previously said it plans to roll out the overhaul after the midterm elections.
Critics of the upcoming change to verification argue the move could make it easier for people to impersonate public figures, potentially leading to a spread of misinformation. Not every verified account had the new gray tag as of Wednesday morning.