Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, verification is now at arm's length for anyone who wants it for a monthly subscription of only $8.
With concerns floating around about the confusion this may cause users about which accounts are legitimately verified or not, the Chrome extension called Eight Dollars might help.
Eight Dollars Can Help Tell Gray And Blue Verifications Apart
Changes are rolling out fast and frequently since Musk took over Twitter as part of its plans to revamp the social network.
According to Engadget, part of this plan is to monetize Twitter's verification, a long-standing symbol of status and influence on the platform.
Since users can now pay for verifications, accounts with checkmark badges will now be separated into those with gray ones and blue ones.
Accounts that were verified by Twitter for their influence like government officials and news and entertainment outlets will get gray badges, while blue badges will be awarded to those who pay for verification subscriptions.
As this might get confusing, users can use the Chrome extension Eight Dollars to swap out the standard verification badge into spelled-out "actually verified" or "paid verification" labels.
Without the extension, Twitter users will have to manually check on verification marks by going to a user's profile and tapping on the badge to see if they were awarded or purchased.
However, with Eight Dollars, checking verifications will be easier and simpler by showing this information directly on Twitter's timeline, Engadget details.
The extension is originally made for Google Chrome, but its designers and developers Will Seager and Walter Lim say that those who use other browsers can make it work as well.
According to 9to5 Google, since the extension is relatively brand new, it is still pending approval from developers to be released at the Chrome Web Store.
At the moment, Eight Dollars is only available as an add-on through GitHub and needs to be manually installed through users' chosen browser's developer mode.
Verifications Cause More Misinformation During Musk's Twitter Tenure
Musk had been promising to democratize free speech on the social media platform, which was his primary goal for opening up verification subscriptions to anyone who wants to pay for it.
However, because of this, Fast Company believes that Twitter badges have lost their meaning as a symbol of accomplishment since everyone can have it nowadays.
Despite this, it is not the biggest concern users face when paid subscriptions to Twitter's verification can lead to a surge of trolls mocking people and accounts using their badges to spew hate speech.
This is why the GitHub project Eight Dollars, named after the cost of a Twitter monthly verification subscription, is a browser extension that might be helpful for users.
Should users want to get Eight Dollars for a better Twitter browsing experience and avoid impersonations and misinformation, they can get the add-on here.
Related Article: 7 Best Chrome Extensions for Online Safety and Security in 2022
