April 1st has passed without incident as virtually every account that had a designated “legacy” verification badge on Twitter continues with the same status. After much back and forth, the Elon Musk-owned platform revealed last month those accounts donning a pre-Musk checkmark would have to pay for Twitter Blue to keep it, giving April 1st as a date when the “Legacy Checkmarks” would be removed. Now, those accounts continue retaining their status, and Twitter has made matters even more complicated.
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Prior to Sunday’s changes, verification badges would don one of two disclaimers when clicked or hovered over; one would notify users an account has subscribed to Twitter Blue while another would inform tweeters the account may/may not be notable because it was given a check before Musk took control of the service.
Now, the platform has consolidated the notifications to a singular descriptor, regardless of when the accounts were given the blue check. “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account,” the latest notification reads.
A verification check—which was once given to verified real journalists, government officials, and other associated personalties—is now included in a Twitter Blue subscription.
In addition to the iconic blue check, anyone who subscribes to the service gets a slew of other features for the site, including longer tweets, an Edit button, and come April 15th, a higher ranking in the algorithm. That’s not to forget the change that will make it so only Twitter Blue subscribers can vote in polls featured on the site.
“Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations,” Musk announced in a tweet late last month. “The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.”
What do you think of Elon Musk’s latest change to Twitter? How do you feel about polls and the For You feed only being eligible for Twitter Blue users? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
