TWITTER BOSS ELON Musk has postponed the relaunch of paid verification on the platform, extending a suspension he previously said would end this month.

Adding a verification option for subscribers of Twitter Blue, open to all users for eight dollars a month, has been a major focus for Musk since he bought the platform in late October.

“Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk tweeted yesterday.

“Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.”

Musk did not give a date for the relaunch, which was previously scheduled for 29 November.

Early this month, Musk said the relaunch of Twitter’s paid subscription service would include account authentication, arguing the plan would upend the platform’s “current lords & peasants system” and create a new revenue stream for the company.

A first attempt at launching the feature on iPhone saw an embarrassing spate of fake accounts that scared advertisers.

On 11 November one user changed their name to the handle “EliLillyandCo”, impersonating an American pharmaceutical company, in order to Tweet “Insulin is free now”.

According to the Washington Post, the fake insulin tweet sparked a panic inside Eli Lilly, with company officials contacting Twitter representatives to delete the tweet but Twitter didn’t react for hours.

Eli Lilly’s stock dropped 4.37% that day, erasing over $15 billion in market cap.

Verified accounts with millions of followers were also banned after they changed their user name to “Elon Musk.”

Twitter suspended paid verification and reinstated the gray “official” badge on accounts belonging to public figures and major organizations.

Musk has since reinstated some of the banned accounts that impersonated him, including that of comedian Kathy Griffin.

Before Musk acquired Twitter, the platform offered free identity verification for organizations and public figures, while Twitter Blue offered unrelated customization features.

Twitter Blue is part of the billionaire’s plans to diversify the sources of revenue for the company, whose financial health depends largely on advertising revenue.

Since the takeover, several major advertisers, including Volkswagen Group, General Motors and General Mills, have announced that they were suspending their advertising on Twitter.

With additional reporting from Jamie McCarron