Elon Musk reverses course, kills new 'official' designation for big-name tweeters

In his latest bid of changes to Twitter's verification system, Twitter proprietor Elon Musk said helium has already "killed" the caller "official" designation Wednesday that had started rolling retired for immoderate of the platform's biggest names earlier successful the day.

Twitter product enforcement Esther Crawford revealed details astir the mode the societal network's caller verification strategy would enactment Tuesday, pursuing the company's acquisition by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk successful precocious October.

Some primitively verified accounts would athletics an "official" label, Crawford said, portion immoderate idiosyncratic who pays $7.99 per period for Twitter Blue, the company's subscription product, would athletics a bluish cheque mark. She did not specify what it took to get the "official" status.

As of Wednesday morning, respective Twitter accounts, including CNBC, sported an "official" designation. By Wednesday afternoon, those labels, which appeared arsenic grey cheque marks, were gone.

In an audio gathering done "Twitter Spaces" with advertisers connected Wednesday, Musk said the "official" badge was "simply different mode of creating a two-class system" and "wasn't addressing the halfway problem."

"Please enactment that Twitter volition bash tons of dumb things successful coming months," Musk wrote successful a tweet. "We volition support what works & alteration what doesn't."

Crawford besides acknowledged the alteration of people connected Wednesday, penning successful a tweet that "There are nary ineffable cows successful merchandise astatine Twitter anymore."

"Elon is consenting to effort tons of things -- galore volition fail, immoderate volition succeed," she said. "The extremity is to find the close premix of palmy changes to guarantee the semipermanent wellness and maturation of the business."

In a follow-up tweet, Crawford said the "official" statement volition inactive spell retired arsenic portion of the Twitter Blue launch, but it volition conscionable absorption connected authorities and commercialized entities for the clip being.

Musk, who is presently serving arsenic Twitter's CEO and sole director, has criticized Twitter's archetypal verification system, which gives a bluish cheque mark, oregon verification, to notable users likely to beryllium impersonated by atrocious actors.

Blue checks primitively went to verify the individuality of authorities officials, politicians, celebrities, immoderate journalists, executives, aesculapian professionals and organizations whose individuality the institution had verified. Musk himself has benefited from having the Twitter verification cheque mark. So person myriad journalists, including astatine CNBC.

In a tweet Wednesday, Musk wrote, "Blue cheque volition beryllium the top leveler."

Under Musk's direction, the caller Twitter Blue cheque people volition alternatively enactment arsenic a paying subscriber badge that the institution nevertheless plans to telephone "verification." The subscription work has go a large absorption for Musk, who wants the level to go little reliant connected advertisers and make much gross from subscriptions.

--CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.