Elon Musk's X Is Working On Government ID Verification For Its Premium Subscribers

In a bold move, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (previously Twitter) appears to be working on a verification protocol for its premium users. Users of X Premium are privy to special features and might soon be introduced to a unique verification method.

What Happened: As spotted by an app researcher and blogger @nima_owji on Thursday, a screenshot hinted at premium users needing to click a live selfie and share a snap of their government-issued ID for verification. The catch? A footnote indicates the identification data will be handed to a third-party site, Au10tix.com, with a storage duration capped at 30 days.

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The X user who shared the screenshot assures this new verification mechanism isn’t mandatory. However, the company hinted earlier this month that ID verification might be a condition for availing any of X Premium’s perks.

It also aligns with a previous report by TechCrunch that cited a similar code-level spotting where Twitter was found testing the feature. 

Such a development has naturally drawn mixed reactions. Many are voicing doubts about the privacy implications of sharing their identification data.

X’s verification twist isn’t its only recent shakeup. Remember TweetDeck? Once a stand-alone favorite for viewing real-time customized feeds, the tool was bought by Twitter in 2011. Fast forward to today, it has transitioned into ‘X Pro’ and is exclusively available for X Premium subscribers, priced at $194.99 annually for mobile users.

The platform’s modification started following its purchase by tech billionaire Elon Musk for a whopping $US44 billion last year. From massive layoffs to surprising feature rollouts and policy changes, he assured X wasn’t just Twitter with new leadership. Rounding off these exhaustive changes was the rebranding announced in July.

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