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

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2023
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.

Elon Musk mulls deal


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)


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.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 3,014member
    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. 
    edited March 2023 mainyehcStrangeDaysdewmewatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 20
    mainyehcmainyehc Posts: 140member
    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.
    roundaboutnowDAalsethwilliamlondonStrangeDaysmattinozwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 20
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 3,014member
    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. 
    williamlondon9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 20
    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."
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 20
    Nikon8Nikon8 Posts: 51member
    It is a waste to pay.  
    williamlondonStrangeDays9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 20
    Pay $11 a month just to demonstrate to people what a dunce you are for giving money to that moron, how fitting.
    StrangeDays9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 20
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,085member
    Space Karen still wiping our value, I see 
    macxpresswilliamlondondewme9secondkox2neoncatwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 20
    neoncatneoncat Posts: 164member
    "Space Karen" ... how have I not heard this before.  :D  :D  :D  Thanks for a genuine laugh on a Friday.
    9secondkox2muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 20
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,929member
    Space Karen still wiping our value, I see 
    HAHAHAHA!!!! Space Karen!!!  :D
    9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 20
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,289member
    I actually don’t have a problem with this.
    9secondkox2pscooter63
  • Reply 11 of 20
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,474member
    entropys said:
    I actually don’t have a problem with this.
    If they want to price themselves out of the market then that is capitalism in action.

    but if they are willing to sell company and organisation verification to people who impersonate that organisation then they are either materially benefiting from fraud or running an extortionist racket. 
    9secondkox2ronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 20
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,289member
    Yes. Capitalism.
    charging for a blue tick for people that see themselves as important means a more viable platform for the rest.
    and if the charge is too high, it lets competing services undercut them, forcing Twitter to adjust.

    If twitter’s credibility is threatened by dodgy people, more so than alternative systems, the same will apply. It isn’t as though the government compels anyone to use Twitter.

    Capitalism can deliver unhappy outcomes, but that is beside the point. It works as an economic system delivering benefits to the vast majority, with fewer unhappy outcomes, far better than every other single alternative tried so far.
    edited March 2023 9secondkox2
  • Reply 13 of 20
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,107member
    The blue check mark never meant anything. It’s been widely reported that many accounts that actually were notable had their verification mark withheld due to ideological or political bias by former Twitter twits. 

    In some cases, the check marks were provided via bribe and shady briber services. That’s how stupid the whole thing used to be. 

    It was one of Theo things:

    1) a leftist caste system. 
    2) a scam for crooks to get paid. 

    At least now, with actual good management, things are on the up and up. You pay a subscription fee for value adds and a verification mark shows that your account is accountable. 

    It’s fair, honest, and good business. 

    New Twitter > Old Grubby Twitter x1000. 
  • Reply 14 of 20
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,107member
    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.
    Nah. Mastodon is pretty lame. 

    They should Just stay on Twitter now that it’s a fair and free speech platform unless they are afraid of that sort of thing. In that case, yeah they should go to another platform. 
    edited March 2023 williamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 20
    "all a Twitter blue checkmark will mean is the user is paid"

    I think you meant "the user has paid."
    ronnradarthekatpscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 20
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,557member
    They should Just stay on Twitter now that it’s a fair and free speech platform unless they are afraid of that sort of thing. In that case, yeah they should go to another platform. 
    The capacity for Kool-Aid drinking is high with this one.
    ronn9secondkox2muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 20
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,901moderator

    So if I pay $7,

    Elon will vouche for my identity,

    for a month.

    After that he disavows ever knowing me?

    unless I pay him $7 again?

    Seems a bit extortionist.

    ronnwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 20
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,107member
    chasm said:
    They should Just stay on Twitter now that it’s a fair and free speech platform unless they are afraid of that sort of thing. In that case, yeah they should go to another platform. 
    The capacity for Kool-Aid drinking is high with this one.
    The reality distortion field lives again with this one. 

    And on it goes. Be grown ups. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 19 of 20
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,709member
    Money grab, plain and simple. Elon is sick of sleeping in the office and subsisting on Raman noodles and PB&J sandwiches. Some sympathy - please? The poor guy just blew his weekly allowance on buying Twitter and needs to restock his piggy bank.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 20
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,455member
    The blue check mark never meant anything. It’s been widely reported that many accounts that actually were notable had their verification mark withheld due to ideological or political bias by former Twitter twits. 

    In some cases, the check marks were provided via bribe and shady briber services. That’s how stupid the whole thing used to be. 

    It was one of Theo things:

    1) a leftist caste system. 
    2) a scam for crooks to get paid. 

    At least now, with actual good management, things are on the up and up. You pay a subscription fee for value adds and a verification mark shows that your account is accountable. 

    It’s fair, honest, and good business. 

    New Twitter > Old Grubby Twitter x1000. 
    I must have missed the part about "actual good management" but then again, I was watching Elon burn a couple of ten's of billions in valuation.
    ronnwilliamlondon9secondkox2neoncatwatto_cobra
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