Elon Musk was warned by Twitter’s safety team AGAINST his $8-a-month blue tick marks

Elon Musk was handed seven-page document from Twitter’s Trust and Safety team that recommended AGAINST his $8-a-month blue check mark system – before the site was flooded with fake accounts

  • Elon Musk and other Twitter executives were reportedly warned about the chaos that would flood the platform over his $8-a-month blue check mark system
  • A seven-page memo said that the system would spur impersonation accounts that would target companies, politicians and public figures
  • That outcome is precisely what happened as people paid $8 to publicly troll high-profile companies like Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin
  • Also targeted were companies like Pepsi, Nestle and even BP Global
  • The memo also warned Musk that he does not have the manpower for his plans and to police accounts, which came before he laid off about half of his staff  

Elon Musk was reportedly warned by Twitter‘s Trust and Safety Team about the chaos that would ensue on the platform over his $8-a-month blue check mark system

Musk, his lawyers, and Esther Crawford, the director of product management who has risen as one of the Chief Twit’s top lieutenants, were all presented with a seven-page document listing the consequences of the system a week before its launched, Platformer reports. 

The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures.

But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out last week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers.

However, the platform was quickly flooded with impersonation accounts of notable people and companies, creating the type of chaos Musk and his team were directly warned about in the November 1 documents from the Trust and Safety Team. 

‘Motivated scammers/bad actors could be willing to pay… to leverage increased amplification to achieve their ends where their upside exceeds the cost,’ the documents acquired by Platformer read. 

Elon Musk (left), his lawyers, and Esther Crawford (right), the director of product management who has risen as one of the Chief Twit’s top lieutenants, were all warned about the chaos that would overtake the platform due to the $8-a-month blue check mark system

Eli Lilly saw $15billion worth of capital wiped after a fake account with an official check mark tweeted: ‘We are excited to announce insulin is now free’

Lockheed Martin saw shares plummet last week when an impersonation account tweeted: ‘We will begin halting all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States until further investigation into their record of human rights abuses. #WeAreLM’

The documents labeled Musk’s plan as ‘P0,’ signaling that they fell within the highest risk category for the social media website.    

Along with warning that trolls could sow chaos on Twitter, the team said, ‘Impersonation of world leaders, advertisers, brand partners, election officials, and other high profile individuals’ represented another P0 risk.

It ultimately warned Musk that a flood of impersonations and impulse buys to make fun of companies for only $8 could drive away advertisers for good. 

Among the companies who saw the greatest impact from the rise in fake accounts last week was Eli Lilly and Lockheed Martin, who saw billions wiped off their shares following controversial tweets from impersonation accounts. 

Eli Lilly, one the nations largest supplier of insulin, saw its stock value plummet by more than 4 percent, The Washington Post reported, about $15billion, after a fake account using Musk’s verification system tweeted: ‘We are excited to announce insulin is now free.’ 

On Friday, Eli Lilly executives ordered a halt to all Twitter ad campaigns, the Post reported. They also paused their Twitter publishing plan for all corporate accounts around the world.

Lockheed Martin, which produces aerospace equipment and arms for world governments, saw a similar loss after an impersonation account tweeted: ‘We will begin halting all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States until further investigation into their record of human rights abuses. #WeAreLM.’

Other companies that fell victim to fake accounts included Pepsi, Nestle and even BP Global, one of the world’s largest oil providers.  

Musk was also warned that the company may not have enough manpower to police all the fake verified accounts while at the same time removing the blue checkmark from legacy accounts who refuse to cough up the $8-a-month price tag.

‘Given that we will have a large amount of legacy verified users on the platform (400K Twitter customers), and that we anticipate we’ll need to debadge a large number of legacy verified accounts if they decide not to pay for Blue, this will require high operational lift without investment,’ the documents read. 

The warning about the lack of staffing came before Musk elected to lay off roughly half of Twitter employees, which was followed by a sudden U-turn where some of the fired workers were asked to come back because they were actually needed

Twitter did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment. 

An account claiming to be PepsiCo tweeted out: ‘Coke is better’

Nestle, which is Poland Springs parent company tweeted: ‘We steal your water and sell it back to you’

Last week, an account claiming to be BP Global tweeted: ‘Just cause we killed the planet doesn’t mean we can’t miss it’

Crawford, was also allegedly warned about the chaos, defended her boss’ decision to rollout the Blue system anyway, then pausing it within hours due to rampant complaints

Twitter users reported Friday that they were no longer able to sign up for Twitter Blue, having previously had the option to do so. Pictured: A screenshot from Friday morning showing an error message

Following the mayhem that befell Twitter over the new check mark system, Musk put a paused on it, as well as a follow-up pitch to label real accounts with an ‘Official’ check mark. 

‘Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months,’ Musk tweeted hours into the chaos. 

Crawford, who has risen the ranks of Musk’s inner circle and reportedly knew about the Trust and Safety team’s warning, defended her new boss. 

‘There are no sacred cows in product at Twitter anymore,’ she tweeted. ‘Elon is willing to try lots of things — many will fail, some will succeed. The goal is to find the right mix of successful changes to ensure the long-term health and growth of the business.’

Advertisers have pulled out in large numbers, scared by the tumult and bad publicity, and Musk – who took out a large loan to buy the firm – soon faces the prospect of being saddled with immense debt, which could bankrupt Twitter.

Yoel Roth (left), who censored stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop, left Twitter on Thursday – despite praise from the new owner Elon Musk (right)

Hunter Biden’s laptop proved to be a treasure trove of stories for reporters. Yet when they began emerging in October 2020, shortly before the election, Twitter banned the reporting on their contents. Jack Dorsey subsequently said the censorship was a mistake. Hunter Biden is seen with his father in 2016

The Tesla CEO has controversially said he wants the blue tick to be available to all paying customers. He said opening the verification process up to more people will help democratize Twitter and cut down on the spam and bot accounts on the site.

But critics have said this opens the door to confusion, impersonation and the further spread of misinformation.

Musk tweeted late on Thursday that all parody accounts must have ‘parody’ in their username as an attempt to crack down on the confusion.

Several top security and privacy experts at the company have also resigned amid the controversial changes.

Among them was Yoel Roth, whose job title was head of safety and integrity. Roth was involved in the decision to censor reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop – a decision which the then-CEO Jack Dorsey said he regretted. 

It is unclear why Roth left the company despite his endorsement from Musk for reducing views of harmful content in search results by 95 percent. 

Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty also resigned, according to an internal message posted to Twitter’s Slack messaging system, as well as Twitter’s Chief Security Officer Lea Kissner. 

TIMELINE OF BILLIONAIRE ELON MUSK’S BID TO CONTROL TWITTER

January 31: Musk starts buying shares of Twitter in near-daily installments, amassing a 5% stake in the company by mid-March.

March 26: Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and is active on the site, said that he is giving ‘serious thought’ to building an alternative to Twitter, questioning free speech on the platform and whether Twitter is undermining democracy. He also privately reaches out to Twitter board members, including his friend and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

April 5: Musk is offered a seat on Twitter’s board on the condition he amass no more than 14.9% of the company’s stock. CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet that ‘it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.’

April 25: Musk reaches a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the company private. The outspoken billionaire has said he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.

May 10: In a hint at how he would change Twitter, Musk says he’d reverse Twitter’s ban of former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, calling the ban a ‘morally bad decision’ and ‘foolish in the extreme.’

June 6: Musk threatens to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts.

July 8: Musk tells Twitter he is terminating agreement because firm wouldn’t hand over information on spam bots 

July 12: Twitter files suit seeking a court judgement forcing Musk to complete the merger at the agreed price 

October 6: Delaware judge delays October 17 trial until November and gives both sides until October 28 to reach agreement to close the deal

October 20: Musk told prospective Twitter investors that he plans to lay off 75% of the company’s 7,500 employees, according to The Washington Post

Wednesday, October 26: Musk posts a video of himself entering Twitter headquarters carrying a kitchen sink, indicating that the deal is set to go through

Thursday, October 27: Musk fired top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, shortly after the deal was completed

Saturday, November 5: Twitter launches an $8 subscription service that gives the user a verified blue check mark and other features

Friday, November 11: Twitter paused the $8 blue check subscription service as fake accounts mushroomed, and brought back the ‘official’ badge to some users of the social media platform

*Source: Associated Press