Twitter announced, on Friday, that it will be winding down its legacy verified programme from April 1, 2023. Legacy verified checkmarks will thus be removed, it tweeted.
Twitter urged individual users to sign up for Twitter Blue, and organisations for ‘Verified Organisations’, to keep their blue checkmarks.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has remained firm about the elimination of the old verification system, a Bloomberg report said. Musk has described the old system as “corrupt” after he took over the microblogging platform in October last year.
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.
Twitterati reacts
Twitterati pointed out that legacy verification will be shut down on April Fool’s Day, and expressed concerns over the move.
Twitter is also reportedly testing a new verification process for Twitter Blue subscribers. This would involve these users submitting their government ID, a recent report by TechCrunch noted.