Ah, Twitter. What can I say about the social media platform these days? From massive data leaks to banning third-party clients, it’s a place where chaos thrives. Well, Twitter has added something else to the roster now. The company recently announced that it’ll start removing “legacy verified checkmarks” on April 1st, the biggest day of the year for pranksters and evil doers. It’s weirdly fitting, no? This announcement arrives hot on the heels of Twitter Blue subscriptions rolling out on a global scale.
These “legacy checkmarks” are the verification badges that were under Twitter’s former rules (prior to CEO Elon Musk’s takeover). If you want to keep your checkmark, you’ll need to subscribe to the Twitter Blue, which costs $8 a month or $84 a year. Special features include the ability to edit or undo your Tweets, compose Tweets that exceed the usual 280 characters, and more. Is it worth the additional cost? Well, that’s for you to decide. Personally, it’s not.
This bit of news isn’t all that surprising. Musk has been talking about getting rid of the “legacy verified checkmarks” for quite some time now. Although the Twitter CEO feels like those badges were given out in a “corrupt and nonsensical” way, they’re actually quite useful, as they’re a good indicator of an authentic account. The old verification badges were often used by celebrities, brands, and journalists. Government accounts can apply for a grey checkmark here.
April Fools Day is a real bold choice, though. Some of you may be wondering if Musk is just trolling his followers. The thought had crossed my mind, too. At this point, it’s entirely possible, especially because Musk likes to include the numbers 69 and 420 in his business. That said, the announcement did come from the Twitter Verified account. So, it has to be legitimate, right? Only time will tell.
Author: Ashley Biancuzzo, Associate Editor
Ashley is a professional writer and editor with a strong background in tech and pop culture. She has written for high traffic websites such as Polygon, Kotaku, StarWars.com, and Nerdist. In her off time, she enjoys playing video games, reading science fiction novels, and hanging out with her rescue greyhound.