Musk to allow only verified users to vote in polls on X

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk on Sunday announced that X will soon allow only verified, premium users to participate in polls across subjects, including political issues, on the platforms to avoid bots from swaying the results.

When writer-entrepreneur Brian Krassenstein posted that X has to make the option to only allow for blue checkmarks to participate in polls, Musk said it is coming soon.

“We’re changing polls to allow votes only by verified users. That’s critical to avoid polls getting bot-spammed on controversial issues,” the billionaire said. “We shut down a lot of bots this week,” the tech billionaire added.

X earlier announced that it would permit political advertising on its site from political parties and candidates in the US and expand its elections and safety team before the 2024 presidential election.

The social media network said it will increase its teams to combat “emerging threats” and content manipulation. X stated that it is permitting political ads with the aim of “building on our commitment to free expression.”

“We should empower our users to express their opinions and openly debate during elections, in line with our commitment to protecting freedom of expression,” it added. Meanwhile, days after boosting an antisemitic campaign to ban the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from X,

the “free-speech absolutist” Musk proposed polling the social media platform’s users on booting the civil rights advocacy group from the site formerly known as Twitter.