On April 11th, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, announced that legacy blue checkmarks would be removed from Twitter accounts verified under the previous regime, with a deadline set for April 20th. Those with legacy verified accounts on Twitter will have to pay to keep the checkmark, except for those subscribed to Twitter Blue, Twitter’s subscription service, who will keep their blue checkmarks.
The cost of Twitter Blue varies globally, with pricing in India ranging from Rs 650-900 per month or Rs 6,800 annually. Previously, Twitter had declared that starting April 1st, blue check-mark badges would be removed from legacy verified accounts, unless users have signed up for Twitter Blue subscription service.
On April 2nd, Twitter updated the description of verified users to read, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.” As a result, it is no longer feasible to differentiate between users who have paid for a blue checkmark and those who have not.
There are some celebrities who have refused to pay for verification, such as LeBron James, the NBA star and entertainment producer, who tweeted on March 31st that he wouldn’t pay for verification and that his blue checkmark might disappear. Despite this, @KingJames remains verified currently.
Musk has explained that the move towards paid verification is mainly intended to generate much-needed revenue for Twitter and combat bots. When Stephen King rejected the idea of paying for a blue checkmark, Musk responded by saying, “We need to pay the bills somehow!”
Meanwhile, Twitter has initiated a program that allows businesses and organizations to charge $1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies, and nonprofits; grey for governments). Verified accounts were initially introduced by Twitter in 2009 to help users identify authentic accounts of public figures, including celebrities, politicians, companies, brands, and news organizations.
