Micro-blogging platform Twitter through its CEO Elon Musk has announced the final date for the removal of free verification badges on Twitter accounts.
Musk took to his Twitter handle to disclose that the final date for removing legacy Blue checks is on the 20th of April 2023. He tweeted, “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20”.
Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023
This final date for the removal of free checkmarks is coming after Musk had earlier disclosed that the activity would commence on April 1,2023. The company through its Twitter Verified handle disclosed that on April 1st, it will begin winding down its legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks of accounts that the company had previously deemed to be notable or authentic. It further added that unless users have signed up for Twitter Blue, which starts at $8 per month, they would retain their badge.
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On April 2, Twitter changed the language in the description of verified users, which reads, “This account is verified because it is subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.
Also, Twitter launched a program for businesses and organizations to charge $1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies, and nonprofits and grey badges for government accounts. Twitter however waived that fee for its 500 top advertising clients that have been previously verified.
Musk’s decision to remove free checkmarks has been followed by widespread criticism from different users and several celebs who said that they would rather lose their checkmark than pay the sum. Top news organization New York Times publicly stated that it would not be paying for Twitter Blue checkmark.
On the 1st of April, only 12,305 of roughly 420,000 legacy verified accounts subscribed to a paid Twitter Blue plan, which is just above 3 percent of the celebrities, pro athletes, influencers, and media personalities who make up the platform’s power users.
While Twitter Blue provides some additional features such as being able to edit tweets and write longer posts, the major selling point promoted to users is the ability to simply get a checkmark next to their username by paying $8 per month or $11 on mobile devices.
Musk officially launched Twitter Blue in November last year, but quickly suspended the service as users started paying for a verification badge to impersonate companies and brands. To combat this, Twitter rolled out a feature that showed who paid for Twitter Blue and who was a legacy verified account. Twitter Blue was then relaunched in December.
It is understood that Musk is making the switch to paid verifications in order to generate revenue for the company, however, it has been followed with only very few positive responses, while many are reluctant to try the new service. Musk hopes that Twitter Blue subscriptions will one day make up for the loss of half of its advertisers, meanwhile, analysts believe that the company has a lot of work ahead of itself.
Elon Musk told the BBC in a spontaneous interview that running Twitter has been “quite painful” and “a rollercoaster.” Since taking the helm of the social media platform in October, Musk has cut its workforce from around 8,000 to about 1,500 employees. But he admits it hasn’t been an easy ride. “This hasn’t been some kind of party,” Musk said, noting that the last few months have been stressful. The serial entrepreneur claims that Twitter is now “roughly breaking even,” and that most of its advertisers have returned. However, he added that he would sell the business if the right buyer came along.
Musk also said that he has “shot himself in the foot” with his tweets on numerous occasions. “I think I should not tweet after 3am.” Twitter will adjust the BBC’s label from “government funded media” to “publicly funded” media after the broadcaster objected.
NPR said Wednesday it would quit Twitter after Twitter first labeled it as “state-affiliated media,” before changing it to “government-funded media,” following heavy criticism. Twitter Inc. is no longer an independent company, but rather a part of a new shell called X Corp, reports Bloomberg, citing a court document. (LinkedIn News)