ツイッター「公式」ラベル、導入直後に撤回　マスク氏「没にした」

【サンフランシスコＡＦＰ＝時事】実業家のイーロン・マスク氏が買収した米ツイッターは９日、一部の著名アカウントに新しい「公式」ラベルを付与し始めたが、直後に撤回した。（写真はツイッターのロゴ。資料写真）
　同社はこの日、灰色の「公式」ラベルを、米アップルや独ＢＭＷといった大企業や米政府、大手メディアのアカウントに付与。だがその数時間後、ラベルは消滅した。
　マスク氏はツイッターへの投稿で、この機能を「没にした」と発表。「ツイッターは今後数か月、ばかなことをたくさんするだろう。うまくいくものは残し、そうでないものは変える」と説明した。
　マスク氏は４４０億ドル（約６兆４０００億円）でツイッターを買収した後、同社の大規模な改革に着手。先週には数千人の従業員を解雇したが、サイト運営の方向性を懸念する広告主が相次ぎ撤退するなど、苦戦を強いられている。今回の方向転換は、マスク氏の計画に対するさらなる疑念を呼びそうだ。
　ツイッターは今後、サブスクリプション（継続課金）型サービスを刷新し、月額７ドル９９セント（約１２００円）で青いチェックマークの「認証済み」バッジを取得できるようにする予定。だがこのサービスをめぐっては、著名人や報道機関がその代金を支払うかどうかについての疑念が浮上。灰色の公式ラベルは、その問題を解決する回避策とみられていた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/10-13:30）

Twitter on Wednesday unveiled -- and then almost immediately scrapped -- a new gray official label for some high-profile accounts as Elon Musk struggles to revamp the influential platform following his $44 billion buyout.
I just killed it, Musk tweeted just hours after the new tag was added to government accounts as well as those of big companies and major media outlets.
Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn't, the world's richest man added to explain the U-turn.
The sudden change of heart will invite further scrutiny of Musk's plans for Twitter a week after he laid off thousands of workers and drew a massive drop in spending by advertisers, who are wary of the site's direction.
The botched rollout came ahead of the hotly anticipated introduction of a revamped subscription model in which the site's famed blue checkmark would be made available for a fee of $7.99, though Musk has also said the price would be adjusted by country.
The blue tick has been a mark of an account's authenticity and doubts emerged that public figures or media outlets would pay for it. The official gray tag was seen by observers as a workaround to solve that problem.
The launch of the new official label began on Wednesday and was on the accounts of companies such as Apple or BMW and public ones such as the White House and major media outlets.
But only a few hours later, it was gone for many of them.
Accounts belonging to Agence France-Presse, BBC News, Pope Francis or the controversial rapper Kanye West that had received the official badge, saw the mention disappear.
- 'A lot of work' -
Esther Crawford, an executive who announced the gray tick idea on Tuesday, insisted that the official label was still going to be part of the relaunch, but that we are just focusing on government and commercial entities to begin with.
During a panel for advertisers broadcast on Twitter, Musk exercised some damage control, admitting that a lot of work lay ahead to get the site to the place he wished to reach.
We've got a lot to do on the software side. I can't emphasize that enough, he said.
Musk took control of Twitter after a drawn-out back-and-forth legal battle in which the mercurial tycoon tried to renege on a deal that many believe he overpaid for.
It emerged on Tuesday that Musk sold $4 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help pay for a transaction in which he took on billions of dollars in debt.
The $7.99 subscription idea is seen as one way to overcome the loss in advertisers since Musk took over the company.
Twitter last week fired half of its 7,500 employees, which Musk said was necessary as the company was losing $4 million a day.