Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney Backs Musk's Twitter Verification Overhaul, Calls Old System 'Elite-Only'

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter and Tesla, has recently sparked controversy by dismantling the platform’s “verification” system, which allowed users to confirm their identity on the platform.

In a show of support, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, voiced his criticism of the old verification system on Twitter, backing Musk, and stating that it had nothing to do with verifying identity documents to prevent impersonation.

See Also: What's Going On, Elon? Twitter Suspends 'Block The Blue' Campaign As Verified Checks Mysteriously Reappear

"People in this #BlockTheBlue pressure campaign are losers and goons. They're the cool kids from junior high who worked to exclude we nerds from cool kid events, plus the losers who joined in to gain cred. The elite-only verification system sucked, been criticizing it since 2018," Sweeney wrote.

People in this #BlockTheBlue pressure campaign are losers and goons. They're the cool kids from junior high who worked to exclude we nerds from cool kid events, plus the losers who joined in to gain cred. The elite-only verification system sucked, been criticizing it since 2018. https://t.co/KSRItcc26l

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 22, 2023

Although Twitter's verification system was initially designed to prevent impersonation and disinformation, Musk replaced the old system last week with a new one that requires users to pay $8 to receive a “verified” badge without any identity verification.

This sparked criticism from some users, along with several formerly verified high-profile accounts who refused to pay the fee and even rejected Musk's offer to be given verified badges.

Tim Sweeney Versus The Blue Checkmark

However, the CEO of the company behind some of the most popular and successful video games of all time, including "Fortnite" and "Gears of War," appeared to support Musk's decision, criticizing the old verification system.

In a Twitter thread, Sweeney called for a meritocracy on the platform: "An online community like this should be a meritocracy, where everyone has an equal chance, and merit is earned rather than anointed by a corporation. Old-school Twitter had found a great expression of merit with following & retweeting. The best rose to the top."

Furthermore, he argued that the verified accounts had formed an "elite" group and that Twitter employees had been using the system to condition user speech and to grant verification to their friends as a perk.

"Then someone well-meaningly built a system for preventing impersonation through verification. But they broke the meritocracy with a policy deeming verification only for elite 'noteworthy' users while letting Twitter employees hand out verification to their friends as a perk," Sweeney said.

"This was followed by waves of Twitter employees realizing they'd been granted a social commodity (or income stream for the crooked) and started handing out blue checks in exchange for favors or IOUs. At peak, friends of friends of Twitter employees were brokering verification," he added.

Key point is, this had NOTHING to do with verifying identity documents to prevent impersonation. They didn't do that. Twitter employees just clicked a few buttons and you were verified.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 22, 2023

Read Next: Video Game CEO Who Challenged Apple Gives His Best Advice

Photo: Official GDC on Wikimedia Commons and Ink Drop on Shutterstock