On Friday, Elon Musk said that the “legacy blue checks” feature on Twitter, which are the blue ticks that appear on verified accounts that have not subscribed to Twitter Blue, would be withdrawn in the near future.
Musk declared that Twitter would no longer provide users with blue checkmarks to signify that their accounts have been verified as “active, noteworthy, and legitimate accounts of public interest.” These checkmarks were provided in the past.
Musk, in regard to a message criticising Twitter’s paid membership model, stated, “Legacy blue checks will be deleted shortly. Those individuals are the ones that are genuinely rotten to the core.”
On Thursday, Twitter Blue was introduced to users in India. The monthly price for iOS and Android users in India is ₹ 900 while the fee has been maintained lower at ₹ 650 per month for the web.
According to what Twitter has said, “Blue subscribers who have a verified phone number will obtain a blue checkmark once accepted.”
Last year, Musk had announced that Twitter Blue will cost USD 8 (about ₹ 660) per month, but it will be priced differently for various markets.
Musk had said the previous year that Twitter Blue would have a monthly fee of USD 8 (about 660), but that the fee will be adjusted for each region individually.
Musk said on Friday afternoon in response to a tweet slamming the contentious $8 monthly Twitter Blue service that enables paying users to obtain a checkmark: “Legacy blue checks will be deleted shortly. These are the real crooked individuals.
Legacy blue checks will be removed soon. Those are the ones that are truly corrupt.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2023
The Chief Executive Officer of Tesla and SpaceX has previously defended the much-criticized idea for paid verification by stating that the blue checkmark would be the “great leveller.”
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“Widespread verification will democratise media & empower the voice of the people,” he had tweeted.
However, the strategy was unsuccessful when verified handles decided to challenge the new owner of Twitter, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” by changing their user names to “Elon Musk.”