Twitter, now owned by Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk, has announced it will delay the rollout of its new $8/month “Twitter Blue” check verification service until after Election Day.
The delay is due in part to a concern that the new “verification” rollout could affect Tuesday’s national midterm elections, the New York Times reported.
“We’ve made the decision to move the launch of this release to Nov. 9, after the election,” Twitter said in a statement reported by the NYT.
The move comes as the company begins the arduous process of asking some of the 3,700 workers who were terminated in last Friday’s massive layoff to return to their jobs.
The company is on a trajectory to lose $700 million next year if costs are not cut, according to the New York Post.
Dozens of the laid off workers were asked to come back within hours, however; some of the layoffs were carried out by mistake, and others were carried out before management realized those workers were needed to build the new features Musk wants for the site, according to two sources quoted by Bloomberg.
While his new company was scrambling to retrieve its laid-off workers, Musk publicly urged undecided voters on Monday to throw their support to the Republican party candidates.
Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022
“To independent-minded voters,” he wrote, “Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.
“Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!” he added.
