Twitter Says It Will Begin to Kill Legacy Blue Checkmarks in April

Twitter announced on Thursday that it will begin removing its blue legacy verified checkmarks on April 1st. Yes, on April Fools’ Day.

The social media company said that it would begin “winding down” their legacy verified program and nixing the legacy blue checkmarks it once handed out for free prior to Elon Musk’s Twitter reign.

The tweet also directed users who wished to keep their blue checkmarks to a subscription page advertising the Blue program, which runs $84 per year or $8 per month ($96 billed annually). The post also included a link leading to an application page where organizations can sign up for verification.

The move is Musk’s latest in his streak of sporadic and sweeping changes on the social media platform. However, given his penchant for being a troll and that the supposed change is scheduled on April Fools’ Day, it’s possible that the whole thing is a spoof.

Still, the Twitter CEO has voiced his plans to eliminate the legacy checkmarks in the past. In February, he replied to a tweet criticizing the initial introduction of the verification checkmark program. “Legacy blue checks will be removed soon,” he warned. “Those are the ones that are truly corrupt.”

Prior to Musks’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter in October, the platform verified a host of public figures ranging from celebrities to government officials, for free. Following his takeover, the company began to distinguish between blue checks, tagging those that were free and not subscribed to Twitter blue with the message, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”

In December, the “Chief Twit” announced his plans to “remove all legacy blue checks,” calling them “nonsensical.” Since taking the Twitter reigns, the mercurial billionaire has rolled out a laundry list of changes at the company. The experimental updates have ranged from granting early access to posts with over 25,000 characters to unveiling “views,” a feature of dubious value that Musk hoped would demonstrate the true reach of user’s posts — the CEO reportedly fired workers after his own tweets flopped.

From Rolling Stone US.