Elon Musk on New Twitter Verification System: ‘Maybe This Is a Dumb Decision’

Elon Musk posted a tweet on Wednesday in which he acknowledged that Twitter will go through some growing pains in the near future.

“Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,” Musk wrote. “We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.”

According to Deadline, Musk struck a similar tone while speaking with advertisers earlier today, admitting his blue check verification program could turn out to be a bad idea. “I think it’s going to be a good world,” he said. “Don’t we believe in ‘one person, one vote?’ I think we do. … Maybe this is a dumb decision, but we’ll see.”

Musk has recently waged war with accounts impersonating other famous figures, indicating that they must establish themselves as parody accounts or face permanent suspension from the platform. “We will actively suspend accounts involved in deception or trickery of any kind,” Musk said during his presentation Wednesday. “It is a leveling of the playing field here. It will be less special, obviously, to have a check mark. But I think this is a good thing.”

Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter last month after the company sued him for trying to back out of his $44 billion deal. Since his arrival, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has begun making sweeping changes, including the abrupt dismissal of a number of the platform’s top executives. That was followed by Musk laying off around 3,700 employees, a move that was met with a class action lawsuit on the grounds that the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires big companies provide at least a 60-day window before widespread cuts. 

Bloomberg reports some employees who were fired are now being asked to return because their dismissal was accidental.