Elon Musk has confirmed that Twitter Blue is set to officially relaunch on Friday, Dec. 2 along with a few different checkmark color choices.
In a tweet this morning, Musk explained that the relaunch next Friday is tentative, so it could change. He also referred to it as "Verified," suggesting the premium service may no longer be called Twitter Blue. Changing the name makes sense because Musk also explained how (as expected) the checkmarks will now be different colors.
He promised a "longer explanation" next week, but basically companies get a gold checkmark, governments get a gray checkmark, and individuals get the standard blue checkmark. Musk went on to explain in a follow-up tweet that all verified humans will have the same blue checkmark, but public officials will be differentiated by a "tiny logo" showing their organization, assuming it has been verified.
For your typical Twitter user, it's still the case that paying $8 a month gets you a blue checkmark. For everyone else, it's a little more complicated. It's also unclear how the manual authentication will work, especially when you consider millions of accounts could be vying to sign up to be Verified next week.
Twitter is certainly going to be a hive of activity next week when you consider suspended accounts are being offered an amnesty. Whatever is left of the moderation/verification team is going to get its first real taste of what Musk meant by being "extremely hardcore."