Celebrities who braced themselves for the removal of their verified checkmark on Twitter did not fall for Elon Musk‘s bluff. As of writing, legacy verified users who didn’t pay for Twitter Blue are still able to keep their checkmarks. However, there is a catch. Users can no longer tell if the blue checkmark holder is a paid user.
Previously, when you hover over someone’s blue checkmark, it would indicate if the person subscribed to Twitter Blue or was verified via Twitter’s legacy verification system. This was to combat the rampant impersonations that occurred when the paid verification system launched back in 2022. Now, every blue checkmark holder will have the same message, stating that they’re either a verified legacy verified account or a Twitter Blue subscriber.
Interestingly, this is somewhat similar to Meta’s verification, where users can’t tell if someone paid for the service or not. However, the only clue they have when it comes to helping deduce if someone is a paid user is by checking the date on when they got the checkmark, as paid users will have “verified on x date.”
Asides from this new vague indicator, celebrities have come out and claimed that they haven’t given Musk a single cent to keep their badge. The Super Mario Bros. Movie stars, Jack Black and Chris Pratt have come out and stated that they have no interest in keeping their badge if it means paying for it. Meanwhile, Patton Oswalt also made it clear to his followers that he didn’t subscribe to Twitter Blue.
Musk made multiple comments about Twitter’s old verification system, something that he has benefited from in the past before his purchase. He first claimed that there is a “hierarchy” between those with blue checkmarks and those without, and creating a paid system would “bring back free speech.” Recently, he claimed that there was “so much corruption” with the legacy verified system and that he plans to add “dates” to when one was verified.
This Twitter update means two things. Firstly, celebrities didn’t fall for Elon Musk’s bluff after the Twitter CEO constantly warned that the legacy badges will be removed. Secondly, it just undoes the system that made Twitter’s paid verification program slightly more secure after it completely backfired during launch. Since there is no longer any indication if someone is a paid user, brace yourself if a new wave of impersonators rises thanks to this new change.
April 15 will mark the next big controversial Twitter change, when non-subscribing users will be no longer permitted to participate in polls. Or maybe that will change too, who knows?