Not a Twitter Blue subscriber? Get ready to say bye to verified blue tick soon

Microblogging platform Twitter will start removing the legacy verified marks from non-Twitter Blue user accounts next week. Twitter will cull the legacy verifief marks from April 1. The move comes as the company works toward a model where only paid subscribers and members of approved organizations will have verified marks for their accounts.

Announcing via a tweet, the company said “On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://twitter.com/i/twitter_blue_sign_up.”

When Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, he announced many policy changes. The decision to eliminate the old verification system is a part of those changes. "Far too many corrupt legacy Blue ‘verification’ checkmarks exist, so no choice but to remove legacy Blue in coming months", Elon Musk's tweeted in November last year.

Twitter accounts are now verified with three colours – Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not). All verified accounts will be manually authenticated before check activates.

The blue verification mark is now a feature of Twitter Blue subscription.  In India, the subscription is available for a monthly fee of ₹650 on the web and ₹900 on mobile devices.

In another news, Twitter has announced that it will no longer allow accounts to enrol in the text message/SMS method of 2FA unless they are Twitter Blue subscribers. The new rule came into effect from March 20.

If you don't want to pay for Twitter Blue, or are afraid of losing your account, it's pretty easy to switch from text/SMS 2FA. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to switch from Twitter's phone-based 2FA to more secure options.

Step 1: Open Twitter

First, open Twitter from your smartphone or through a website.

Step 2: Click on Security and Account Access

Click on Security and Account Access.

Step 3: Choose Two-Factor Authentication

Click on Security, then choose Two-Factor Authentication.

Step 4: Choose Your Preferred 2FA Method

You will now get three options to choose from: Text message, Security key and Authentication app.