Twitter starts pulling legacy blue verification checkmarks

Twitter has started to remove its original blue verified checkmarks from profiles and will now charge users $8 per month for the privilege of the symbol. Businesses can apply for a gold checkmark without paying, while government and multilateral organisations will receive a grey checkmark. Twitter introduced verification in 2009 to combat impersonations, focusing on famous or recognised people in areas such as media, politics and entertainment. Twitter CEO Elon Musk said there were too many “corrupt” verified accounts and decided to end the system. However, it was paused and restarted due to trolls exploiting the process to impersonate well-known figures. Despite introducing gold and grey checkmarks as alternatives, many celebrities and journalists no longer have the same protections against impersonation as they did under the original system. Twitter had also labelled major media outlets, including NPR and PBS, as “government-funded media”, causing several organisations to leave the platform, since the label suggested government oversight over editorial content.



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