Despite Elon Musk’s announcement that Twitter would begin winding down its legacy verified accounts and removing the blue tick mark from them, Twitter’s blue ticks for legacy verified accounts remain intact. Prior to Musk’s tenure as CEO, Twitter selectively gave blue ticks to verified individuals and businesses after due verification. These accounts were known as legacy verified accounts. However, after Musk’s takeover, the legacy verification process was replaced by Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that anyone can subscribe to for a fee.
Although Musk had called the legacy blue ticks for verified profiles ‘corrupt’ and ‘nonsensical’ in the past, Twitter had only removed the gold ‘verified’ marker from the New York Times’ account. Musk had teased the winding down of blue ticks for legacy Twitter accounts, saying, ‘In a few months, we will remove all legacy blue checks. The way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.’ Twitter Blue offers several features, including the blue checkmark, next to the users’ profile name, and the cost for the service varies by country.
In India, Twitter Blue costs ?900 per month on iOS and Android devices and ?650 on the web, while in other countries, the localised pricing for Twitter Blue starts at $8/month or $84/year. To maintain their verified status, organisations must pay a monthly fee of $1,000 (Rs 82,410) in the United States and $50 (Rs 4,120) for each extra affiliated account.
Musk had criticised the New York Times on Twitter, calling their propaganda uninteresting and bashing their main feed as the ‘equivalent of diarrhoea’ and ‘unreadable.’ Despite Musk’s past remarks and Twitter’s initial announcement, the blue tick mark for legacy verified accounts remains intact.
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