Starting April 1, all a Twitter blue checkmark will mean is the user is paid

After years of using the blue checkmark to indicate an account of notability or importance, starting on April Fools' Day, only users that pay for Twitter Blue will get one.

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, its longstanding verified checkmark has ceased to mean that a politician, say, is who they claim to be. The original checkmarks meaning this did continue, but effectiveness diluted when Twitter made it possible to buy a verified checkmark.

Adding these paid-for ones immediately meant that scammers started faking accounts that were verified because of notability or importance.

Consequently, those paid check marks meant nothing other than that someone had subscribed to Twitter Blue, but then Twitter cancelled that option. It tried bringing in "official" checkmarks to show verification instead, but now that's all going away.

On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp

Organizations can sign up for https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3
— Twitter Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023

With no timescale and no apparent irony, Twitter has chosen April Fools' Day to begin "winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks."

Twitter Blue costs $8 per month, unless bought on iOS when it's $11 per month.

That Twitter Blue is intended for individuals, and at the same time Twitter is inviting companies to apply to become a Verified Organization. "We're creating the most trusted place on the internet for organizations to reach their followers," says Twitter's Help Center.

It costs $1,000 per month to become a Twitter Verified Organization, and such firms will get a gold or grey checkmark depending on their type of business. Government or "multilateral" organizations get the grey mark in a circle, while business and non-profit firms get a gold mark in a square.

The only apparent verification required, however, is that the organization applying must have a "matching active Twitter account, current organization email address, and current website domain."

The requirements for Twitter Blue verification are even less. Only paying the company and having a phone number are required to get the mark.

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20 Comments

DAalseth 3035 comments · 6 Years

About 1 year ago

A thousand dollars a month? I really hope that most if not all organizations decide it’s not worth it and drop their accounts. I mean I’d be pissed to find out that my Senator, Congressman, or agency was dropping twelve bills a year to keep a Twitter account. There’s better things to put tax money toward.

mainyehc 142 comments · 17 Years

DAalseth said:

A thousand dollars a month? I really hope that most if not all organizations decide it’s not worth it and drop their accounts. I mean I’d be pissed to find out that my Senator, Congressman, or agency was dropping twelve bills a year to keep a Twitter account. There’s better things to put tax money toward.

Public officials should just show Phony Stark the finger and move to Mastodon altogether. Heck, the US Government should create its own instance for all its agencies, duh.

mainyehc said:

DAalseth said:

A thousand dollars a month? I really hope that most if not all organizations decide it’s not worth it and drop their accounts. I mean I’d be pissed to find out that my Senator, Congressman, or agency was dropping twelve bills a year to keep a Twitter account. There’s better things to put tax money toward.

Public officials should just show Phony Stark the finger and move to Mastodon altogether. Heck, the US Government should create its own instance for all its agencies, duh.

That’s the best idea. They have their own web sites, they should have their own place to post government news and information. The same people who follow them on the commercial sites would follow them on the ,gov site.

charlesatlas 401 comments · 9 Years

mainyehc said:

Public officials should just show Phony Stark the finger and move to Mastodon altogether. Heck, the US Government should create its own instance for all its agencies, duh.

Phony Stark. I like it. Reminds me of the line from the 1989 Batman movie. "Maybe it should be Bruce Vain."