Twitter was supposed to ceremoniously remove legacy verification checkmarks on April 1. While it appears to have put those plans on hold for now, the social network has revised the label attached to the check mark to make it virtually impossible to differentiate between those who earned it and all who paid for it.
When users tap or click on the blue checkmark, the label now reads, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”
After Twitter introduced verification through the Blue subscription plan, the label on the legacy verified accounts read, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.” On the other hand, the label on the Blue account showed, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue.” Because of this, it was previously possible to differentiate between two sets of verified accounts.
Over the weekend, the New York Times also lost its verified check after it refused to pay for the verification service. In a reply to users posting a meme about the publication not paying for verification, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said, “Oh okay, we’ll take it off then.”
Over the last few days, many celebrities including LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes II, Darius Slay, Monica Lewinsky, and William Shatner have said that they won’t be paying for a check mark.
Reporter Matt Binder pointed out that Musk deleted a tweet saying that Twitter will give “a few weeks grace” to legacy verified account holders to subscribe to Twitter Blue before removing verification marks from those who don’t pay. The deleted tweet also said that the social network will remove the checkmark if accounts specifically refuse to pay for Twitter Blue.
Musk has promised that after April 15, the “For You” algorithmic timeline will only show verified accounts along with the accounts a person follows. Over the weekend, he also mentioned that Twitter will soon add the date of verification to user profiles.
The social network is also reportedly working on a government ID verification feature for Blue subscribers, which will let them hide their checkmarks.