As you’ll be able to see on this screenshot, posted by X Information Every day, U.Ok.-based X Premium subscribers will now even have the choice to substantiate their ID, by offering a picture of their government-issued identification paperwork, which may embody a license, passport, mainly any government-provided doc together with your picture on it.

Present that to X, and third-party verification associate Au10tix, and also you’ll qualify for an additional verification component, with a brand new “ID Verified” marker along with the blue checkmark.

As a result of the blue checkmark, in itself, is now meaningless for this goal, because the X staff isn’t confirming ID paperwork within the X Premium sign-up course of.

It used to. The previous Twitter staff used to require a minimum of some type of qualification for the tick, which is why it’s referred to as “verification”. However in its race to make subscriptions an even bigger income stream, X has deserted this component, as an alternative banking on the truth that solely actual people will be capable of present a bank card and a cell phone quantity to connect to every “verified” profile.

However its new partnership with Au10tix may higher allow X to really affirm the ID of extra customers, which may work in the direction of certainly one of X proprietor Elon Musk’s key objectives, in negating the proliferation of bot accounts.

Elon made battling bots a key focus in his X takeover, by conducting his personal analysis into the presence of bots within the app earlier than he took possession of the platform late final yr.

Based mostly on his staff’s evaluation, Musk claimed that round 20% of profiles within the app have been truly bots, although since he’s taken over, he’s made no point out of this stat, as an alternative noting that X’s lively person rely has continued to rise, even though a big proportion of these customers, by his personal admission, are seemingly bots, which, at totally different occasions, he additionally claims to have defeated.

So both X has grown at an astronomical price, and changed these 20% of bot profiles with actual human customers, whereas additionally including extra new customers on prime of that. Or bots are nonetheless an issue within the app.

I’m guessing it’s the latter, as a result of Musk continues to be making an attempt to implement new schemes to fight bots, which means that they’re nonetheless signing up.

Additionally, X claims to be seeing 1.5 million new account sign-ups every single day, which might equate to round 45 million new customers within the app each month. But X had 540 million month-to-month actives in July (in line with Musk), and it has 500 million now.

Yeah, there’s some odd cross-matching there.

Mathematical anomalies apart, X’s partnership with Au10tix does have potential, in enabling X to confirm precise human customers, with out large labor load by itself employees, which, given its varied cuts, it seemingly can’t undertake by itself. 

Au10tix apparently helps doc verification in over 190 international locations/areas, so it may develop right into a broad-reaching partnership, that may assist to meet X’s aim of authenticating extra customers, and thus, combating bots.

The one drawback is, X isn’t, at this stage a minimum of, seeking to implement this ID affirmation possibility on a broader scale, or in isolation from X Premium.

Which, presumably, is as a result of by pushing individuals to enroll to X Premium, that can even usher in further income. However then once more, after App Retailer taxes and processing charges, X is unlikely to generate a lot further earnings from its $1 to publish initiative that it’s at the moment testing in New Zealand and the Philippines.

Which makes it slightly unclear what its actual plan is right here, however primarily, X may look to make use of this program to substantiate the id of all of its customers, or a minimum of loads of them, for a minimal charge. That looks like a extra viable path ahead for verifying that every profile represents an precise particular person, however once more, X is seemingly not seeking to make this a person component, preferring as an alternative to have it nestled into its X Premium subscription bundle.

So, for those who pay $8 monthly, you’ll be able to affirm your ID by way of this course of.

However for those who’re already paying $8 monthly, then by X’s logic, you’re already a human anyway. So that you wouldn’t want it?

It does appear to be one thing’s been misplaced in translation right here, and I assume that a part of it’s as a result of Au10tix additionally must receives a commission for its verification companies, which might be a part of the explanation why solely paying customers can entry this function at current.

Nevertheless it does appear to belie the premise, as Elon retains saying, that funds are the one strategy to fight bot peddlers.

It looks like this might truly be an alternative choice, which makes it appear to be the funds component is a key a part of the broader imaginative and prescient right here.

In any occasion, in isolation from X Premium, this might be a beneficial, viable initiative to confirm that extra X customers are precise people. However because it at the moment stands, I’m not likely certain why anybody would trouble.