In a week that saw Twitter CEO and enfant terrible Elon Musk change his Twitter handle to something we won't print here and remove the "W" from the company name at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, the news of a real, true, and the deadline to eliminate all legacy blue checks could fly almost unnoticed.
Of course, Musk made it more interesting (or ridiculous) by selecting April 20, aka "4/20" as the withdrawal date, the importance of which is not lost on cannabis aficionados, including Musk, who smoked Joe. Rogan. podcast. (opens in a new tab)
Musk has been threatening to remove legacy checkmarks for months and recently set the calendar for April Fool's Day, but nothing happened. Instead, the company changed the verbiage on the blue check so that legacy accounts read: "This account is verified because it's either a Twitter Blue follower or it's a verified legacy account."
As a result, it was no longer possible to tell if someone had a blue check from Twitter's previous management or was paying the €7.99 per month fee.
The deadline to remove legacy blue checks is 20/04 April 11, 2023
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While Twitter's subscription plan (opens in a new tab) predates Musk's acquisition of the company in late 2022, it was Tesla's CEO who decided to force users to pay for verification. . The failed plan initially required no one to verify her identity and led to disasters, such as Ely Lilly impersonating Twitter and claiming that insulin was now free.
The new system asks you to at least verify your identity with a credit card, but Musk's dreams of forcing millions of Twitter users to pay may stumble. A recent Bloomberg report (opens in a new tab) claims that only 116 people signed up for Twitter Blue, not the millions Musk needs to turn subscription services into a true revenue generator.
I don't understand. @NPR is no more "affiliated with the United States" than, say, @PBS, which doesn't have that label. PBS receives government funding (not much, still declining). NPR doesn't even get direct funding (some little hints). pic.twitter.com/JRhyQUTagRAApril 5, 2023
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As we've written before, major organizations and celebrities, including the White House (opens in a new tab) and Lebron James (opens in a new tab), are already refusing to play for Blue Check.
Musk is also misrepresenting some organizations that already have the new Gold Checks (for businesses), by applying an incorrect description. Earlier this week, Twitter changed NPR's (National Public Radio) Twitter bio to read "state-affiliated media."
When NPR and others protested, correctly pointing out that only a small fraction of NPR's funding comes from the US government, Musk somewhat relented, then added an almost equally misleading label that NPR is government-funded.
If Musk sticks to this plan, it could soon be hard to tell who on Twitter is real, has gained authority, or is an actual celebrity. It's not hard to buy a blue tick, change your Twitter name (but not the official Twitter handle, the part that goes with "@"), to something more like "ElonMusk," and trade a photo of Musk. Only eagle eyes will spot the imposter on his Twitter account.
Musk's crusade to level the playing field on Twitter is unlikely to go down well and soon the only "verified" accounts will be people who have actively paid, as some have put it, to "look cool without being cool."
The only question that remains is whether Musk will stick to the 20/4 date or, as Musk and Twitter encounter more pushback, will he slide further?