So far, Twitter hasn’t followed through on an announcement that it would remove the blue ticks from legacy verified users, meaning those users continue to display them alongside paid subscribers.
Last month, Twitter billionaire owner Elon Musk announced that starting April 1, legacy verified users would see their blue marks removed from the service unless they paid the $8 a month subscription fee for Twitter Blue. For organizations, the fee is US$1,000 per month.
When April Fool’s Day came and went, the blue markings remained, despite much anticipation. As of Sunday, Musk appears to have removed only one blue tick: the one from the New York Times account.
This appears to have been done in retaliation for the news outlet’s announcement that it would not pay for the service, according to a response from Musk.
Oh ok we’ll remove it then
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
The New York Times too allegedly told reporters that it would not reimburse your costs for subscribing to Twitter Blue, except as necessary for your reports.
The Times had reported that Twitter would keep the verification badge for the 10,000 most followed organizations, which would include the Times with almost 55 million followers.
the washington post informed on friday Removing legacy verification badges can be time-consuming because the process can be manual-intensive.
On Sunday, Twitter also removed information that differentiated between legacy verified accounts and Twitter Blue subscribers, with users saying when clicking the checkmark that the account is “verified because it’s a Twitter Blue subscriber or a legacy verified account.” “.
Users who had signed up for the service had sometimes found themselves ridiculed on the platform for paying the bill, and Twitter was also reportedly considering an option for subscribers to hide their verified badges.
Musk on Sunday said Twitter would also add a verified date to a user’s account, but this would only apply to subscribers.
Last week, Musk backed away from a plan to only promote verified users through the company’s algorithmically curated “For You” timeline, stating that other users would also be visible in that feed.
A leaked memo from Musk last week also revealed that Twitter is worth less than half of what the billionaire paid for it six months ago, to less than $20 billion.
Twitter no longer has a communications department.
