Twitter to remove all Legacy Verified checkmarks by April 1; launches Blue worldwide
Microblogging platform Twitter has announced that it will be removing all legacy verified badges for users as well as organisations from April 1, leaving only accounts actively subscribed to Twitter Blue, its subscription-based service will don the blue checkmark.
Twitter also says Blue is now available worldwide.
According to the announcement, Twitter said that: "Starting April 1, we’ll be winding down our legacy Verification program and accounts that were verified under the previous criteria (active, notable, and authentic) will not retain a blue checkmark unless they are subscribed to Twitter Blue. Subscribers will need to meet our eligibility criteria below to receive or retain the blue checkmark."
Commenting on the new update, CEO Elon Musk said that reason why these check marks will be taken down is "the way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical," adding that "any individual person’s Twitter account affiliated with a verified organization is automatically verified."
The social media platform which had used the blue check mark feature to identify important entities and businesses for free since 2009 launched the subscription-based Twitter Blue feature shortly after Musk's takeover last November.
It added premium perks offering subscribes users on the platform a range of features such as the blue check mark, the ability to edit tweets, post longer videos, lesser ads and organise bookmarks at a monthly cost of $10.9 on iOS and Android and around $7.8 for those paying through the web.
It had also introduced a Twitter Verified Organizations program for companies in the U.S. to keep a gold or grey check-mark badge which costs $1,000/month (plus tax) and $50/month (plus tax) for each additional affiliate subaccount.
This move is part of Elon Musk's plan to generate a much-needed new revenue stream for the company. Since the acquisition, Musk has tried to increase monetization on the platform and issued layoffs to cut costs with the goal of increasing the platform's profitability.
