Twitter to remove ‘legacy blue checks’; they are ‘truly corrupt’: Elon Musk

Twitter will soon remove the “legacy blue check” — the blue ticks on verified handles that have not subscribed to Twitter Blue — because, according to owner Elon Musk, those are “truly corrupt.”

Musk’s statement was in reply to a question by a user from India named Ria who said the blue tick has “now become a joke,” as anybody can obtain them by paying up. To that, Musk replied, “Legacy blue checks will be removed soon. Those are the ones that are truly corrupt.”

The user, Ria, pointed out that the blue tick was earlier given to public figures, but now anyone can get it. “Dear @elonmusk the blue verification mark is now become a joke. Earlier the blue tick verification was only given to ppl who were public figures and political figures but sadly today any Tom Dick n Harry gets verified. Ur verification tick has lost the charm.. (sic),” she tweeted.

Musk said Twitter would no longer display the blue checkmarks that were given to “active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest” verified by the company.

Twitter Blue in India

Making the blue check paid was among the first decisions Musk took after taking over the microblogging site.

Also read: Twitter faces global outage; users say ‘unable to tweet, follow’

Users are now charged an $8 monthly fee to retain their verified status as part of Twitter Blue, a subscription service. Twitter Blue was launched in India on Thursday. To use the service on mobile, users must pay Rs 900 per month for both Android and iOS devices. A subscription plan on the web costs Rs 650 per month. The annual subscription plan for web users will cost Rs 6,800.

Twitter Blue offers several paid features such as undo and edit tweets, early access to some features, facility to post longer and high-quality videos, etc.

(With agency inputs)