Many verified Twitter users will lose their blue badges early next month.
The social media platform said that starting April 1, it will begin removing its “legacy” verification checkmark.
These cover the blue tick accounts of most non-government officials or organizations – meaning many musicians, actors, journalists, writers, etc. will lose their ticks.
A blue checkmark confirms that the account is verified by Twitter.
twitter boss Elon Musk It had previously vowed to remove the remaining blue ticks, which were reportedly distributed in a “corrupt and ridiculous” manner.
To keep their tickers, accounts must subscribe to Twitter Blue, which costs a whopping £11 a month for accounts in the UK.
Business accounts can also subscribe to Twitter Verified Organizations, which means they can add a gold checkmark to their account.
However, a subscription service will cost them their base price of £950 per month.
When announcing the move, Twitter said it would “begin the phase-out of our legacy verification process.”
“It’s definitely not going to backfire”
Verified Twitter users joked about the announcement, especially the decision to start removing ticks on April Fools’ Day.
“It’s absolutely not counterproductive that they’re erasing the legacy that was validated on April Fool’s Day,” civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo said.
American screenwriter Mark Royce joked twitter A reminder that legacy verified accounts “may or may not be noteworthy.”
“Since verified checks will be taken away on April Fool’s Day (not a confusing day), I wanted to provide closure to many of my super fans who have been puzzling over a mystery for months,” he said. wrote.
“The answer is no. This account is not actually worth noting. Godspeed”.
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Ariel Dumas, lead writer on The Late Show with Steven Colbert, joked: “Please get me out of this plague. My verification checks made me too rich and too famous.
“I got pulled over at the store. My older son was tired of fighting hordes of fans chasing me chanting ‘blue check blue check’.”
Mr. Musk has faced backlash for rolling out the paid verification feature, which has led to many fake accounts buying verification and then posing as public figures to spread abusive content.
The billionaire bought Twitter last October as part of a $44bn (£36bn) deal and quickly drew criticism after firing the company’s top executives.