Twitter to remove 'legacy' blue checkmarks from April 1

Twitter on Friday said it will remove all legacy Blue verified check marks for both individual users and organisations from April 1. The social media giant will only allow paid subscribers and members of selected or approved organisations to have the respective status.

"On April 1, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified check marks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue," said the company.

One can sign up to get a blue checkmark, prioritised ranking in conversations, half ads, long Tweets, Bookmark Folders, custom navigation, Edit Tweet, Undo Tweet, and more.

Musk had time and again said that the company will remove all Blue checks, as it gets busy monetising its platform by charging users.

"Twitter's legacy Blue Verified is unfortunately deeply corrupted, so will sunset in a few months," he had said.

Twitter had introduced the verified account features in 2009 in order to allow users to distinguish between genuine accounts of politicians, celebrities, brands and politicians companies. The company had not previously charged for offering this service.

Twitter Blue

Currently, individual Twitter users who have verified blue check marks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which in the US costs $8 a month via the web and $11 a month through in-app payment on iOS and Android.

Twitter Blue in India will cost Rs 9,400 a year for individual users.

Twitter Blue is now available globally and the users can get Blue Verified for $7 a month if they sign up via web browser, Musk announced.

Twitter has also allowed Blue subscribers to create long tweets of up to 4,000 characters.

Twitter Blue subscribers will also see 50 per cent fewer ads in their home timeline.

Twitter Gold

For companies and brands, Twitter recently introduced a gold check-mark and has shifted government accounts to a gray check-mark.

Twitter reportedly told businesses to pay $1,000 per month for retaining gold badges and brands and organisations which do not pay the money will lose their checkmarks.

With inputs from IANS