According to Elon Musk, CEO of social media platform Twitter, from April 15, only verified Twitter handles will be allowed to vote in the election. The move is expected to address the problem of advanced AI bot swarms.
Musk also announced that only verified accounts will be eligible to appear in Twitter’s “For You” recommendations, which display a stream of messages from accounts on the platform.
In a tweet on Monday, Musk stated, “Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in ‘For You’ recommendations. This is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for the same reason.”
Musk clarified that verified bot accounts were acceptable as long as they follow the terms of service and do not impersonate a human.
Last year, Musk stated that Twitter would only permit paying Twitter Blue subscribers to vote in policy-related polls. However, this latest development expands the scope of verification for poll participation to all verified accounts.
Verification is a process that Twitter uses to establish the authenticity of accounts on its platform. Verified accounts are indicated by a blue badge with a white checkmark. Twitter verifies accounts of public interest to assist users in identifying reliable sources of information and to prevent impersonation.