Twitter has removed the verified blue checkmark from a ton of accounts, including former President Donald Trump. Ever since Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter at the end of 2022, he has been making big changes to the platform. One of the first and biggest changes he made was that anyone who subscribed to Twitter Blue would get a blue verified checkmark next to their name, a marker that had previously been used for celebrities, politicians, companies, and otherwise “notable” figures. Musk also noted that at some point, if you didn’t subscribe to the service, those who had what was referred to as a “legacy” checkmark would have it removed. This was intended to happen on April 1st, but for whatever reason, didn’t happen and was delayed to April 20th.
Now, a bunch of accounts ranging from celebrities like Tom Cruise to major figures like former President Donald Trump have lost their blue checkmarks. The likes of Lebron James said they wouldn’t be paying for the service, but the NBA superstar still has his checkmark which may indicate he subscribed to Twitter Blue. This could be a glitch, however, as some are reporting that some of the now unverified accounts are still displaying as verified. If you click on a person’s checkmark now, you will see the following message: “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”
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There are still some workarounds to not using Twitter Blue, though it still costs money. Those who are part of an “organization” can be verified through their organization with a special gold checkmark, but it’s quite pricey. Once the whole process of removing checkmarks is completely over, it will be interesting to see who forks over the cash to stay verified. The checkmark has created a stigma online now, so it may be more of a negative thing for some users than a positive thing.ย
What do you think of Elon Musk’s changes to Twitter’s verified checkmarks? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
