Twitter will remove ‘legacy verified checkmarks’ on April 1, 2023 and users must subscribe to Twitter Blue if they want to keep the ‘blue tick.’
Twitter has announced that on April 1, 2023, it will finally be removing “legacy verified checkmarks,” and if users want to retain the ‘blue tick,’ they will have to subscribe to Twitter Blue.
One of the first major decisions that Elon Musk took after taking the helm of Twitter was the introduction of Twitter Blue, a paid service that offers the coveted ‘blue tick’ and the ability to edit and post longer tweets. He also expressed that most of the legacy verified checkmarks were obtained through corrupt means and announced that they would be removed eventually.
Organizations that obtained Twitter’s verified check marks through the old process, in addition to noteworthy individuals, will also lose their checkmarks (gold for businesses and grey for government) and must subscribe to Twitter’s “Verified Organizations” service. The subscription costs $1,000 per month and an additional $50 for each additional affiliate located in the United States. And, unlike Twitter Blue, the Verified Organizations portal is a web-only feature—meaning “management and billing via the portal are exclusively available on web,” as per Twitter.
Several users responded to Twitter’s announcement tweet with disapproval and skepticism, with some even questioning whether it was an elaborate April Fools Day prank by Musk, who has a history of joking around with his followers. While it’s possible that this could be another one of Musk’s attention-grabbing stunts, it seems more probable that Twitter’s decision is genuine, and users will indeed lose their legacy checkmarks come April 1.
“Turning Verified badges into “I have $11/month” badges is pointless lol. If everyone (including burners) can have them now, why would anyone want one?,” a user who goes by the username JustinThind, said on Twitter.
Another user, sammathews expressed that he bought Twitter Blue for its extra features but “removing verification from the people who are notable for some reason makes no sense, I use it a lot when there’s a lot of noise to get for example commentators or other players or other team owners opinion.”