Twitter has started removing old verified badges from today, as previously announced. Celebrities and public figures who haven’t subscribed to Twitter Blue will lose their blue verification badges. Individuals, excluding organizations, willing to pay for the service can purchase a Twitter Blue subscription and receive a blue verification badge after Twitter’s review.
Organizations, such as Microsoft, will need to pay a higher fee to not only have their official account verified but also allow employees to display an organizational verification badge on their profiles.
Elon Musk has been critical of the old verification system, as it relied on manual verification. Only high-profile individuals like celebrities could easily obtain verification, while other users with fewer followers in their respective fields remained unverified. Musk believes the new Twitter Blue can help maintain Twitter’s revenue while combating fake accounts. For instance, he plans to restrict voting features to subscribed users only, as bot accounts are unlikely to pay for subscriptions.
However, there are downsides to the new subscription model. With most paying users eligible for verification, some accounts may cause confusion or deliberately impersonate others, potentially leading to fraud issues.
An interesting development is that, despite author Stephen King’s earlier refusal to pay for verification and use of profanity towards Musk, his badge remains and has been upgraded to Twitter Blue. Musk revealed that he personally paid for Twitter Blue subscriptions for three people: actor William Shatner, Stephen King, and basketball star LeBron James.