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- Alex Stamos, a former Facebook executive, said that Elon Musk’s blue-check saga is a "historical own."
- Musk removed blue checkmarks from some legacy accounts last week only to bring them back for some.
- Stamos claimed that Musk's system would make it hard to identify bots, and could render Twitter "unusable."
Alex Stamos said that Elon Musk’s blue checkmark saga was an "historical own."
Musk, who calls himself the Chief Twit (or "The Chief Twit"), has removed blue checkmarks from accounts that were verified according to Twitter's previous policies. These accounts had blue checks in order to prevent spam accounts posing as celebrities, public figures or journalists. Musk described it previously as a 'lords and peasants system.
The billionaire agreed at first to only give blue checkmarks to those users who paid $8 per month for Twitter Blue, but celebrities and news agencies made it a point to refuse to pay. Musk returned the verified checks to a few users that he said he had paid for and later to more users.
Stamos, in a podcast episode entitled "Moderated content" published on Monday, said: "This is an incredible self-own from Musk's historical timing perspective."
Stamos was Facebook's Chief Security Officer until 2018, and has previously been critical of Musk. He was also chief information security officers at Yahoo. He runs a cybersecurity company and teaches Stanford.
Stamos stated in a recent podcast that generative AI is bringing about a "new age of bullshit," because the cost to generate content is "trending toward zero."
Stamos added that Musk's social network site will "possibly be completely unusable in a year" as it would be hard to tell AI bots apart from real people — a problem Musk previously stated he wanted to solve.
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Stamos explained that "everything in which there is anonymity, or pseudo-anonymity, will be flooded with a small group who wish to manipulate it." Identity is important. Identity is going to become a huge deal in the coming decade. Twitter was one of the earliest and most well-known identity programs, but they've completely ruined it. "They've turned it into a negative, and people are asking to get it removed."
Stamos, in an Insider statement, said that "in such an age trust in platforms to prevent impersonation as well as verify the identity high-profile individuals or organizations will be critical." "Musk’s timing in destroying one the oldest and most recognized verification programs is unique stupid."
Musk didn't respond to an email request for comment before publication. Twitter replied with an automated message that didn't address Insiders question.
On the podcast, the former Facebook security chief joked that Musk's decision was also "a masterclass in marketing", as celebrities went to Twitter and said that they hadn't paid for Twitter Blue or wanted to be associated with it.
Stamos has been one of many people to criticize Musk's plans on Twitter for user verification. Top Tesla investor Ross Gerber said to Insider's Hasan Chowdhury earlier this week that the blue check saga may indicate Twitter's demise.
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By: gkay@insider.com (Grace Kay)
Title: Facebook’s former security chief calls Elon Musk’s blue check marks saga a ‘historical self-own’
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/ex-facebook-security-elon-musk-twitter-blue-checks-alex-stamos-2023-4
Published Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2023 17:16:18 +0000
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