Starting April 1st, Twitter is removing "legacy" verified checkmarks. Users have to subscribe to the Blue subscription for them to keep their verification. The removal of this feature has been anticipated for months now.
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LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 09: In this photo illustration, the logo for the Twitter social media network is projected onto a man on August 09, 2017 in London, England. With around 328 million users worldwide, Twitter has gone from a small start-up in for the public 2006 to a broadcast tool of politicians and corporations in 2017.
Removing Legacy Checkmarks
Twitter announced today to start removing legacy blue checkmarks from the platform starting April 1. According to TechCrunch, Musk has been hinting the public last year that the company would remove this feature because how the system was corrupt and nonsensical.
Aside from this, it was often very inconsistent in approving and denying accounts for verification. Legacy blue checkmark holders have been seeing pop-up information once the checkmark has been clicked and it states that "This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable."
Removing the feature confuses the people given to its date of removal will be on April Fool's Day. The Verge reported that this announcement is "extremely possible" to come as a prank or joke from Twitter Chief Elon Musk, especially with his quirky personality.
Before Musk's leadership in Twitter following his acquisition, Twitter only used blue checkmarks only for verified people and entities as active, authentic, and notable accounts of interest. Compared to the situation now, verification checkmarks were given out to people for free.
Twitter Blue
As Twitter removes the legacy checkmarks, the company also rolled out Twitter Blue subscriptions globally on the same day, which comes months after its launch. Previously, the subscription service was only available to limited countries (50 to be exact), but now it has officially expanded across the globe.
Along with the notable Verified checkmark, Twitter Blue also features a lot of access that a normal user cannot get. This includes prioritization for ranking in conversations, fewer advertisements, bookmark folders, navigation customization, edit and undo buttons for tweets, and the ability to tweet 4,000 characters.
9To5Google reported that as of the moment, Twitter Blue costs $8/month in the United States with a $1/month discount when the annual subscription was chosen. For the other regions, the subscription fee has a similar structure but was obviously adjusted for local currency. Due to app store costs, iOS and Android users will cost $11/month.
For brands and government agencies to retain their verification in the platform, Twitter has an application process for gray checkmarks and gold checkmarks dedicated to government bodies and officials, and businesses.
Also Read: Twitter Blue Subscribers Can Exclusively Use 2FA Feature via SMS Soon
Musk made a lot of promises about the future of Twitter Blue subscription services that have not been kept. This includes the revenue-sharing program, which he revealed in his tweets last February.
He said, "Twitter will share ad revenue with creators for ads that appear in their reply threads. To be eligible, the account must be a subscriber to Twitter Blue Verified."
Related Article: Twitter Blue Subscribers Can Exclusively Use 2FA Feature via SMS Soon
