‘What is going on?’ Twitter users are left baffled after their legacy blue ticks remain on their profile despite Elon Musk claiming they’d be removed on April 1
- Some Twitter users have blue checkmarks from before Elon Musk’s takeover
- All these ‘legacy’ ticks were due to be removed on April 1, but this didn’t happen
- Instead, they are now indistinguishable from those who got one via Twitter Blue
Twitter users have been left baffled after the verified ‘blue ticks’ remain on the profiles of accounts that do not pay for them.
These ‘legacy’ check marks appear on accounts where the owner had proven their identity prior to Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform in October.
But a few months later, the new CEO launched Twitter Blue – an £11 or $11-a-month subscription service that gives users the same stamp of verification.
Clicking on a blue tick would reveal whether it was legacy or paid for via Twitter Blue, but on March 23, Twitter said that all legacy ticks would be disappearing on April 1.
However this turned out to be something of an April Fools’ joke, as instead all blue ticks have remained, but can no longer be distinguished from each other.
Twitter said that all legacy ticks would be disappearing on April 1, this turned out to be something of an April Fools’ joke. Instead they have remained, but can no longer be distinguished from those who received one by paying for Twitter Blue
This has left users confused, with one user asking: ‘So are they getting rid of the old blue ticks or not what is going on’
When you click on a blue tick now, a message reads: ‘This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account’.
WHAT BADGES CAN YOU HAVE NEXT TO YOUR TWITTER NAME?
Blue tick – These either mean that the account is paying for Twitter Blue, or they had the checkmark prior to Mr Musk’s takeover. These have not necessarily been verified by Twitter.
Gold tick + square profile picture – These features indicate a verified business account that subscribes to ‘Verified Organizations’, or had the checkmark prior to Mr Musk’s takeover.
Grey tick – These indicate a verified account which represents a government institution or official. It either subscribe to ‘Verified Organizations’ or had the checkmark prior to Mr Musk’s takeover.
Affiliation badges – Affiliation badges indicates that an account is connected to an organisation on Twitter. The affiliation badge contains the profile photo of a Verified Organisation and is applied to all its affiliates.
‘State-affiliated media’ or ‘government organisation’ label – These are applied to verified accounts of organisations controlled by individuals or media entities affiliated with a country’s government or state.
‘Automated by…’ label – These indicate that an account is posting content not produced by a human, and names the person responsible for it.
Professional category labels – These are descriptive labels chosen by the account holder, who has signed up for a ‘Professional Account’. This is a free upgrade users can apply for commercial accounts providing they fit a set of criteria.
For legacy tick holders, this used to read: ‘This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.’
This has left users confused, with one user asking: ‘So are they getting rid of the old blue ticks or not what is going on.’
One user said that the fact Twitter Blue subscribers cannot be distinguished is ‘way worse than taking the checkmark’.
Journalist Matt Binder noted that, in a now-deleted tweet from April 2, Mr Musk said those with legacy checkmarks will have ‘a few weeks grace’.
Indeed, The Washington Post reported last week that efforts to remove legacy blue ticks could take a long time due to significant manual elements in the process.
However, according to the billionaire’s tweet, if the user specifically says ‘they won’t pay now’, their tick will be removed.
Despite deleting this statement, Mr Musk appears to be putting this into action, as the blue tick has been removed from the main account of the New York Times.
The news organisation has particularly angered Mr Musk, as it said it would not pay for verification.
‘We aren’t planning to pay the monthly fee for checkmark status for our institutional Twitter accounts,’ the publication said in a statement on Sunday.
‘We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter Blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where this status would be essential for reporting purposes.’
In response, Mr Musk said he would therefore remove the checkmark.
He tweeted: ‘NY Times is being incredible hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay *their* subscription’
However, this hasn’t been the case for all accounts, as basketball legend LeBron James still has his blue tick, but said he ‘ain’t paying the 5’.
Mr Musk has said that allowing verification through Twitter Blue was an effort to do away with what he saw as a ‘lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark’.
‘Legacy’ check marks appear on accounts where the owner had proven their identity prior to Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform in October
Twitter users have been left baffled after the verified ‘blue ticks’ remain on the profiles of accounts that do not pay for them after the announcement from the ‘Twitter Verified’ account
Before his regime, a blue tick was given out by Twitter for free to verify high-profile accounts, proving they were authentic and distinguishing them from impostors.
But when Twitter Blue was first rolled out in November, users were quick to take advantage of the opportunity to essentially buy this symbol of authenticity.
Accounts impersonating famous people and corporations, including Mr Musk himself, flooded the platform.
One user fooled others into thinking former US President Donald Trump tweeted: ‘This is why Elon Musk’s plan doesn’t work.’
Another account impersonated former President George W Bush – who appeared to post a distasteful tweet about Iraq – and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Musk (pictured) has said that allowing verification through Twitter Blue was an effort to do away with a ‘lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark’
One user said that the fact Twitter Blue subscribers cannot be distinguished is ‘way worse than taking the checkmark’ and that they ‘would rather die’ than give their money to Mr Musk
This forced the second richest man in the world to halt the verification process, but not before advertisers pulled their contracts.
Twitter Blue was relaunched the following month, with new systems to denote different types of verified accounts, like multi-coloured checkmarks.
Gold ticks denoted verified business accounts, while grey ticks denoted accounts which represent a government institution or official.
But, if Mr Musk’s recent tweets are anything to go by, this may not be the case for much longer, and users who wish to remain verified will have to cough up the cash.
Twitter Blue currently costs £9.60 in the UK ($8 in US) a month for web access, and £11 ($11 in the US) a month to use with Apple iOS.
This is thought to be to account for the ‘hidden 30% tax’ applied to in-app purchases within those hosted by Apple.
Journalist Matt Binder noted that, in a now-deleted tweet from April 2, Mr Musk said those with legacy checkmarks will have ‘a few weeks grace’
Organisations in the USA would have to pay a cool $1,000 a month to receive a gold or grey verification tick.
But the cost for UK organisations is unclear at the moment, as the official Twitter help site says it costs ‘1140’, and does not specify the currency.
Confusingly, it says that it will cost €60 a month to add an ‘affiliate badge’, which links an associated brand to a company profile, in the UK.
This error may be indicative of how Mr Musk recently slashed the platform’s work force to less than 2,000.
Despite this, the New York Times last week claimed that Twitter plans to give free blue ticks to the 500 companies that spend the most on advertising, and the 10,000 with the most followers.
His moves to pressure more users into paying for the platform comes as news that it is now worth less than half of what he paid for it six months ago.
Elon Musk dethrones Barack Obama to become the most-followed person on Twitter
It doesn’t seem a coincidence that @elonmusk has become the top account on Twitter just months after its owner took control of the platform.
Early on Monday, Musk surpassed Barack Obama as the most followed Twitter user – with 133.08 million followers compared to Obama’s 133.04 million.
It follows the Twitter CEO ordering company engineers to create a special system that boosts his tweets following the Super Bowl on February 12.
According to insiders, Musk ordered a revamp when his tweet about the Super Bowl didn’t get as many impressions as a similar tweet from President Joe Biden.
The billionaire deleted his ‘flopped’ tweet and threatened to fire his engineering team if they did not fix the engagement issue.
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