Twitter to revoke 'legacy' verified badges in April, leaving only paid subscribers with blue checkmarks

As Elon Musk promised, the old blue tick verification regime will soon belong to the past.

The social network, which the mega-billionaire bought last year as part of a heavily indebted $44 billion deal, announced Thursday that starting April 1, it will remove the verified tick status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as notable before Musk's takeover, unless they don't. subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan.

The only individual Twitter users who will have checked blue ticks are those who pay for Twitter Blue, who in the US costs $8/month via web and $11/month via in-app payment on iOS and Android. Earlier Thursday, the company announced that Twitter Blue is now available worldwide.

For businesses and brands, Twitter recently introduced a gold checkmark and moved government accounts to a gray check mark. As previously reported, a subscription to the social network's new Twitter Verified Organizations program in the US — which will be the only way to maintain a gold or gray checkmark badge — will cost $1,000/month (plus tax) and $50/month ( plus taxes) for each additional affiliate sub-account. (See prices here.)

Twitter first introduced verified accounts in 2009 to help users identify celebrities, politicians, businesses and brands, news organizations and other "public interest" accounts were genuine accounts and not imposters or parodies. Previously, the company did not charge for verification.

Musk felt Twitter's old verification system was "corrupted" and opened checkmarks blue to all paying customers — a move to democratize the status symbol, perhaps, but also a way for Musk to generate a much-needed new revenue stream. "Too many corrupt legacy blue checkmarks exist, so no choice but to remove blue legacy in the coming months," Musk tweeted in November.

Before Musk's change allowing anyone to get a blue check mark, Twitter had over 420,000 likes verified accounts. After taking office, Twitter changed the wording of the description of older verified accounts to say they "may or may not be notable." (Musk said he was responsible for the wording.)

In November, two weeks after Musk struck the Twitter deal, the company launched Twitter Blue with the check-mark badge as one of the premium benefits. But after two days, it suspended registrations when a deluge of users created fake accounts and parody accounts that appeared to be "verified". The company relaunched Twitter Blue the following month with new measures designed to prevent copycats.

In Musk's first memo to Twitter employees last fall, he said that the company would need about half of its revenue to come from subscription services. "Without significant subscription revenue, there's a good chance Twitter won't survive the coming economic downturn," he wrote.