Elon Musk Puts Twitter Legacy Blue Checks On Notice

Twitter's account verification is due for a very controversial overhaul ... again. Earlier today, CEO Elon Musk announced that all legacy verified accounts that got blue check verification before he took over as Twitter's new CEO, will soon lose their coveted badges. Musk tweeted that Twitter will "remove all legacy blue checks" in the coming months. Over the past few days, Twitter started showing a prompt on verified profiles saying that the legacy verified account in question "may or may not be notable." Musk claims that the phrasing shown in the prompt, which irk many people with verified accounts, are his own. 

The whole point of Twitter's verification system was to identify notable personalities wielding influence with a blue tick mark. It proved to be a trusted visual identifier for getting information from a source, which could be a government agency, political figure, journalist, brand, or health institution. Twitter never charged to verify an account, but the verification process was quite rigorous. Musk lambasted it by calling it a "lords and peasants" system, pitching that anyone should be able to get a verified account after paying $8 per month towards a Twitter Blue subscription. He even suspended the identity verification part, but it soon proved to be a disaster, and Musk had to suspend the rollout.

Musk says Twitter's verification system was flawed, and that everyone should be able to get verified, instead of facing an opaque process that decides whether they are worthy of blue tick mark or not. Musk claims that the process was "corrupt and nonsensical." Twitter's support pages currently don't offer any clarity about when the badge removal will start for legacy verified accounts. The mercurial Tesla chief, who was viciously booed on stage at a Dave Chapelle show over the weekend, previously said that a Twitter Blue subscription is mandatory for keeping that badge. Verified accounts will have a grace period, and if they don't pay the Twitter Blue fee in due time, they will lose the check mark. 

For legacy accounts that lose their verified status, they will be able to get it back if they subscribe to Twitter Blue, which relaunched earlier today. In doing so, however, their profile page will tell others that the badge comes from paying the Twitter Blue fee, and not because they are notable or famous. In a nutshell, it's a lose-lose deal. It would hurt iPhone users even more, because Twitter Blue will cost $11 per month, if the fee is paid via the iOS app. Musk is passing the Apple App Store tax to users, because the premier tier of Twitter was reportedly turning out to be a loss-making idea for the company.