Twitter will be removing all older, verified legacy blue checkmarks from various profiles over the next couple of months. Calling the previous process through which verification badges were awarded as corrupt and nonsensical, Elon Musk tweeted that legacy verified badges will hold no value.
Before Musk bought Twitter, checkmarks were used to verify individuals and entities as active, authentic and notable accounts of interest. On Monday, the social media platform relaunched its Twitter Blue subscription plan after a dicey first attempt. The subscription gives anyone willing to shell out $8 per month (or $11 per month on iOS) a blue checkmark next to their name, fewer ads on their timeline, boosted posts and other features.
For the last couple of weeks, many verified blue badge holders have been seeing a pop-up when they click on their blue checkmark that reads, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”
Twitter is still working out the kinks of this controversial revenue stream. The company also just updated its terms to specify that users will be required to verify phone numbers before purchasing Twitter Blue. Users also won’t be able to change their username, display name or profile picture seven days prior to buying the plan.
The new plan for Twitter is to issue badges in three different colours – gold, grey and blue, along with labels where it would be necessary. For example, the golden badge will be for companies and other organisations, whereas the grey badge will be reserved for government agencies. The existing blue badge will be reserved for individuals, whether they are a celebrity or not.
Twitter has also warned that if paying subscribers of Twitter do change any of these identifiers, their blue check will be taken away from them and they will have to apply again so that Twitter can re-verify them. That extra-cautious move seems to be the result of the initial rollout of Twitter Blue, which resulted in rampant, and often hilarious, account impersonations.
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