BackTwitter to remove blue verified checkmarks from today; now pay to get it back
The verified blue ticks on Twitter will be removed starting today from all the profiles that are without a Twitter Blue subscription.
PremiumTwitter will begin removing the blue checkmarks for the individuals and organizations starting today. Only those who pay for the ‘Twitter Blue’ subscriptions will get the ‘verified’ blue tick marks on their profiles.
This means that if you have a legacy verified account on Twitter with a blue checkmark, you will now have to pay to retain it. The only accounts that will keep their blue checkmarks are those subscribed to Twitter Blue.
Twitter Blue is priced differently for every region and based on how you sign up. In the United States, it costs $11 a month or $114.99 a year for iOS or Android users and $8 a month or $84 a year for web users. In India, the price for Twitter Blue is ₹900 for iOS monthly, web monthly is ₹650 while yearly pricing for iOS is ₹9400. For Android users, monthly pricing is ₹900 while yearly pricing is ₹9,400.
In order to retain blue tick, Twitter Verified account has shared an update saying, “To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here."
Twitter states that, “Verified Organizations is a new way for organizations and their affiliates to distinguish themselves on Twitter. Rather than relying on Twitter to be the sole arbiter of truth for which accounts should be verified, vetted organizations that sign up for Verified Organizations are in full control of vetting and verifying accounts they’re affiliated with. Accounts affiliated with the organization will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the organization’s logo, and will be featured on the organization’s Twitter profile, indicating their affiliation. All organizations are vetted before they can join Verified Organizations."
Musk is making the switch to paid verification in order to generate much-needed revenue for Twitter. The social media platform has also launched a program for businesses and organizations to charge $1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies and nonprofits; grey for governments).
The microblogging site first introduced verified accounts in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations, and other accounts of public interest were genuine and not impostors or parody accounts. The company didn't previously charge for verification.
Recently, Musk had said that running the social media network has been "quite a rollercoaster" and acknowledged "many mistakes" along the way, six months after he bought the company for $44 billion. In a live interview with the BBC after agreeing to a last-minute invitation for the "spontaneity" of it, Musk appeared to tacitly acknowledge that one of those errors was the decision to label the broadcaster's account "government-funded media". He said he would change the designation on the BBC's Twitter handle after the broadcaster objected. "We want it as truthful and accurate as possible -- we're adjusting the label to 'publicly funded'," Musk said.
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