Twitter is divided over Michael Saylor’s suggestion to use orange tick marks for filtering out bots and scammers

• MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has proposed using the Bitcoin Lightning Network to clean up Twitter.
  
• A safety deposit of $20 on the network will give users an orange tick mark next to their name to differentiate real accounts from scammers.
  
• Twitter users are divided over the efficacy of using such methods to deliver the underlying goal.

Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy — the largest corporate Bitcoin investor — has proposed using orange tick marks on Twitter profiles to segregate the bots from actual humans.

In response to a query posted by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about the freedom of speech on Twitter, Saylor suggested using the Bitcoin Lightning Network. His plan advocates that real humans can post $20 using the network that will get treated like a security deposit.

Genuine accounts will get an orange tick mark next to their name, whereas bad actors will be forced to forfeit their security deposit — a possible revenue stream for Twitter.

While the idea is different from other suggestions made in the past, Twitter users are divided over whether something like this would have the desired impact.

Orange tick marks will add a barrier to entry
In theory, having a mechanism where bots can be separated from real humans, is not only something that’s desired but required.

However, one of the biggest appeals of a platform like Twitter is that it's free to use. You could be a retiree, a housewife, a student, or anyone without a fixed income and still access a network where one can speak their mind, free of charge.

Adding a $20 price tag to this feature could leave many, like the examples mentioned, and those in developing countries out of the loop — a point that many Twitter users pointed out.

Meanwhile, others argued that if a person can afford a mobile phone or a computer to access Twitter, they can probably afford $20. While that may be true, many users in developing countries access their accounts using computer cafes

Orange tick marks could be a way for scammers to fly under the radar
Monetary motives are only one part of the story when it comes to being a cyber-criminal. According to users on Twitter, it’s very likely that these bad actors will have the resources to attempt verification from different accounts.

Once verified, that orange tick mark would add credibility for a scam to be even more effective than it would’ve been otherwise.

Another possibility is a flourishing career for malicious false flaggers. False flagging is when bad actors flag legitimate posts to hurt their victims — financially or otherwise.

SEE ALSO:
Qure.ai raises $40 million to expand its presence in US and Europe
Coinbase may reportedly be buying the largest crypto exchange in Latin America