Microblogging platform Twitter has finally implemented the removal of Blue Checkmarks after the company’s CEO Elon Musk had earlier stated that the removal would commence on the 20th of April, 2023,.
Following Musk’s recent decision to remove verification badges, users who did not pay for the company’s subscription service, have noticed the disappearance of the checkmark from their Twitter handle.
The change has impacted several people, including public figures, as Twitter now mandates account holders to pay an $8 per month fee to retain their verification badges. However, government accounts and some corporate accounts will still maintain their verification badge through a separate set of icons, in silver and gold respectively.
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Recall that long ago, legacy checkmarks were issued to notable and public figures for free to authenticate their handle, however with Musk’s takeover, the narrative has changed. The decision came as part of Musk’s plans to get rid of Twitter’s “Lords and peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark”.
It is however interesting to note that the New York Times, along with several other news organizations and high-profile Twitter users, decided not to pay for the Blue checkmark which they described as “absurd”.
A spokesperson at the New York Times said, “We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for checkmark status for our institutional Twitter accounts, We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter Blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes”.
This spurred Twitter CEO Musk to poke fun at the New York Times, calling the publication “unreadable” after it lost its blue verification badge on his social media platform. Musk wrote via a tweet “The real tragedy of New York Times is that their propaganda isn’t even interesting”.
When asked about how taking away verification marks would impact disinformation spread on the platform, Musk said “I think the media is a driver of misinformation much more than the media would like to admit that they are”. Twitter has also disclosed that it will stop recommending non-verified accounts on its “For You” algorithmic timeline.
Twitter Blue got off to a rocky start in November after several accounts started impersonating public figures and companies, resulting in the company halting the subscription service for several weeks before relaunching it the next month.
Criticism has continued to trail Twitter’s decision on its blue checkmark policy, with some saying that the essence of the verification badges was being defeated, as anyone could impersonate another by just subscribing to Twitter Blue.
And finally, even advertisers are not spared!
Advertisers have to pay for verification on Twitter. Businesses are now required to pay for Twitter Blue or Verified Organization subscription services to share ads, TechCrunch reports. Business accounts spending more than $1,000 per month on the app can have gold checks and can continue advertising. In an email that’s been shared on Twitter by some users, the social media site said the move was part of its broader verification strategy and its efforts to reduce fraudulent accounts and bots. (Fortune newsletter)