Elon Musk clarified that Twitter users will still see accounts they follow in their For You feeds after backlash over his plan to only show paid subscribers there

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Elon Musk clarified that Twitter users will still see accounts they follow in their For You feeds after backlash over his plan to only show paid subscribers there
Many Twitter users were upset with Elon Musk's initial announcement that only verified users would appear in For You recommendations starting April 15.Getty Images
  • Elon Musk said Monday that only verified Twitter accounts will appear in users' For You feeds starting April 15.
  • On Tuesday, he backtracked and said accounts that users follow will also stay in the feed.
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Elon Musk is backtracking on proposed changes to Twitter users' feeds after facing backlash over his initial idea.

On Monday, he said only verified accounts will appear in users' For You recommendations feed and be allowed to vote in polls starting April 15. Because Twitter will do away with legacy check marks on April 1, which belong to users who were verified under Twitter's previous system and did not pay to be verified, this meant the For You feed would start to only recommend paying Twitter Blue subscribers.

Musk started rolling out Twitter Blue shortly after buying the social media platform in October. The subscription allows any user to buy verification for $8 per month.

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"The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle," Musk said Monday.

Many Twitter users took issue with the planned change.

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"Dead website in 2 weeks," one user wrote.

"I don't get behind this decision. You need to invest money into talent and AI tech to detect bots on the platform. This isn't the way to go. It could tarnish the platform," another user commented.

Less than 24 hours after his initial announcement, Musk returned to clarify, "Forgot to mention that accounts you follow directly will also be in For You, since you have explicitly asked for them."

Twitter Blue's rollout hit roadblocks early on when users bought verification to impersonate celebrities, politicians, and even companies. It was revoked twice and ultimately reinstated with the addition of new check mark colors: gray ones for governments and yellow ones for businesses.

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