Elon Musk announces April 20 as final date for removal of Twitter Blue checks
In the latest turn of events in the Twitter saga, CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company will remove legacy Blue checks from the accounts on April 20. This comes almost two weeks after the earlier April 1 deadline to remove the blue check-mark badges — meant to verify accounts of public figures, and other notable personalities — passed.
Elon Musk has set a deadline for purging legacy blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company`s previous regime. The billionaire owner of Twitter, Musk, stated in a tweet that "4/20 is the final date for removing legacy Blue checks."
As a result, if you currently have a vintage verified account on Twitter with a blue checkmark, you will need to pay to maintain it. Only accounts with a Twitter Blue subscription will continue to have a blue checkmark.
Every location has a different fee for Twitter Blue, and it depends on how you join up. Users of iOS or Android pay USD 11 per month or USD 114.99 per year, while web users pay USD 8 per month or USD 84 per year.
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Twitter previously stated that beginning April 1, it would begin removing the blue check-mark badges from historical verified accounts (those previously deemed prominent and/or legitimate by the company) unless users joined up for the Twitter Blue membership service.
Twitter updated the language in the description of verified users on April 2 to say, "This account is verified because it's subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account," which means it's impossible to determine who is paying for a blue check-mark and who isn't. Meanwhile, some celebrities have refused to pay for authentication.
Twitter has launched a program for businesses and organizations to charge USD 1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies and nonprofits; grey for governments).
Twitter originally launched verified accounts in 2009 to assist users in determining if celebrities, politicians, firms and brands, news organizations, and other "of public interest" accounts were authentic and not imposters or parody accounts. Previously, the firm did not charge for verification.
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