Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said that legacy checkmarks will be removed on April 20, 2023. This is the ‘final date,’ he tweeted.
In March, Twitter announced it would be winding down its legacy verified programme from April 1. However, this move is yet to be carried out.
Twitter also urged individual users to sign up for Twitter Blue, and organisations for ‘Verified Organisations’, to keep their checkmarks.
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According to a TechCrunch report, Musk, during a Twitter Spaces interview with BBC, said, “I think the media is a driver of misinformation much more than the media would like to admit that they are,” in response to a question about whether taking away verification checkmarks would affect disinformation spread.
The legacy checkmark, seen through a blue Verified badge on Twitter, lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. “To receive the blue badge, your account must be authentic, notable, and active,” states Twitter.
Musk has remained firm about the elimination of the old verification system, a Bloomberg report previously said. Musk described the old system as “corrupt” after he took over the microblogging platform in October last year.
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In December 2022, Twitter Blue was announced. Users were given a subscription option at $8 a month to receive a checkmark in a blue badge next to their profile pictures, along with the ability to edit tweets, among other perks.
In the same month, Twitter began rolling out a grey tick verification mark for government-related accounts and a golden tick mark for companies.