Twitter’s revoking of legacy verified accounts might finally be getting underway as it has unfollowed all the accounts it once followed as a mark of their verification. Twitter Verified now follows ‘no one.’
Twitter’s approximately followed 420,000 legacy verified accounts earlier.
Twitter had earlier warned of closing down all the legacy verified accounts from April 1 and even removing the checkmarks for those who still had them but were not paying for a Twitter Blue subscription. But now that Twitter has unfollowed everyone, it is not clear whether Twitter Verified is following them or not.
Earlier, various reports said Twitter would remove the verified check-mark status of accounts Twitter verified as notable before Elon Musk’s takeover unless they subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan.
The only individual Twitter users who will have verified blue checkmarks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which in the US would cost $8/month via the web and $11/month through in-app payment on iOS and Android. The Twitter Blue feature is yet to be launched in Nigeria so we can’t determine the price yet.
Earlier, the company announced that Twitter Blue was now available worldwide.
“On April 1, 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, “Twitter posted from its official handle. Twitter, however, has not revealed how it will deal with the accounts of people who have “notable” mentioned on it.
Twitter also recently introduced a gold checkmark for companies and brands, while a gray checkmark was introduced for government accounts. According to the social network, a subscription to its new Twitter Verified Organizations program in the U.S., which allows you to keep a gold or gray checkmark badge, will cost $1,000/month for the first account and $50/month for each additional account.
It was in 2009 that Twitter introduced verified accounts as a way to identify celebrities, politicians, brands, companies, and news organizations as genuine rather than being imposters or parodies. The company has never charged for verification in the past.
However, Within two weeks of Twitter’s takeover, Musk launched Twitter Blue, which comes with the check-mark badge as a premium benefit.