Elon Says Twitter Will Remove All Legacy Verifications ‘In A Few Months’ – TechCrunch

Twitter will remove all blue legacy checkmarks “within a few months,” according to a tweet from CEO Elon Musk.

“The way they were distributed was corrupt and nonsensical,” Musk tweeted.

Before Musk bought Twitter, checkmarks were used to verify that individuals and entities were active, genuine, and notable accounts of interest. On Monday, the social media platform relaunched its Twitter Blue subscription plan after a risky first attempt. Subscription gives anyone willing to shell out $8 a month (or $11 a month on iOS because you give a fuck, App Store) a blue checkmark next to their name, fewer ads on their timeline, boosted posts and other features.

Last week, many blue tick holders saw a pop-up window when they clicked on their blue tick that read: “This is an old verified account. This may or may not be noticeable.

Twitter is still figuring out the issues with this controversial revenue stream. The company also just updated its terms to clarify that users will need to verify phone numbers before purchasing Twitter Blue. Users will also not be able to change their username, display name, or profile picture seven days before purchasing the plan.

Twitter also warned that if already paying subscribers change any of these IDs, their blue check could disappear until Twitter can re-verify them. This extremely cautious decision appears to be due to the initial rollout of Twitter Blue, which resulted in widespread and often hilarious account impersonations.