Twitter has announced its plans to begin “winding down” its legacy verified program next month. Starting on April 1st, Twitter claims it will begin “removing legacy verified checkmarks.”
In a tweet, the Twitter Verified account makes the announcement that the company will be removing non-Twitter Blue verification next month. This act should not come to any surprise as CEO Elon Musk was adament that “legacy” blue checkmarks were to be removed after introducing the revamped Twitter Blue subscription.
On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp
Organizations can sign up for https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023
Back in November 2022, Twitter launched its new Blue subscription for and $15.00/month on iOS in Canada. This same pricing model later came to Android. Web support later came as well for $8.75/month. It’s currently available globally. The subscription provides users the ability to edit tweets, see reduced ads, and of course, get access to a blue checkmark as long as they have a verified phone number.
Last December, Musk announced that “In a few months, we will remove all legacy blue checks.” He claimed that the old verification system was “corrupt and nonsensical.” Of course, this comment was likely towards the fact that there was no monotization tied to the old system.
In a few months, we will remove all legacy blue checks. The way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2022
Verification, as it used to represent, was a way for government officials, celebrities, press, and influencers to verify their identity. This then added a blue checkmark in hopes to avoid fake accounts assuming their identity. Nowadays, verification can come in many forms and its becoming more common that there is a price tag associated. Instagram and Facebook recently rolled out their paid verification systems. However, Meta claims it won’t be removing legacy checkmarks.
What stands out the most from this announcement is the timing. Knowing Musk’s level of humour, there’s a chance he believes removing legacy verification on April Fool’s Day is a troll. There’s also another layer of this in which it’s possible this is all just a ruse to stir up some worry and press in the news cycle. The plan may also be to make this announcement in hope to drive more users to Twitter Blue. However, there’s also the very real possibility that legacy verified Twitter users will lose their checkmarks on the advent of the new month.
Only time will tell. Currently, it’d be impossible to reach out to Twitter for additional comments as the official press email for the company now auto responds with the poop emoji. Twitter does offer an application for organizations of business and government to retain a gold checkmark.
