Elon Musk's X soon to limit opinion polls to verified users only

X, previously known as Twitter, owner Elon Musk said Sunday that only verified users would soon be allowed to take part in polls on the platform, as a response to the escalating issue of bots manipulating poll results.

Musk announced a probable upcoming change in response to a tweet from Brian Krassenstein, a writer and entrepreneur, who had detected substantial bot activity surrounding polls.

Brian suggested: "You really have to make the option to only allow for blue checkmarks to participate in polls. I’ve noticed that the bot activity around polls are pretty extreme. As for the ADL I get that sometimes they over-label things. With that said, there has been a lot accomplished over the last 110 years from the ADL."

Agreeing with Brian's views Musk stated, "Agreed on all.

We’re changing polls to allow votes only by verified users. That’s critical to avoid polls getting bot-spammed on controversial issues.

The ADL has done a lot of good work in prior decades, but has been overzealous in recent years & hijacked by woke mind virus."

This isn't the first time Musk has taken steps to address this issue. Several months ago, he revealed that beginning April 15th, only verified accounts would have the privilege of participating in polls. 

He added that "For You" recommendations, which present a stream of tweets from X accounts, would also be restricted to verified users. Musk had previously made it known that the platform would limit voting in polls related to policy matters.

Elon Musk defended this approach as the "only pragmatic" solution to counteract the escalating influence of AI bots on the platform, emphasizing that without such measures, the situation is a "hopeless losing battle." His ultimate objective is to transform X into the most dependable and trustworthy platform, asserting, "I anticipate that this will emerge as the solitary platform you can place your trust in."

Musk's decision to implement these changes underscores his commitment to establishing an online environment devoid of manipulation, where genuine user opinions can be expressed without distortion from automated accounts. This initiative reflects the ongoing endeavours to uphold the integrity and authenticity of interactions on social media platforms.