The service formerly known as Twitter is allowing Twitter Blue subscribers to hide their checkmark.
As TechCrunch reports, Twitter Blue, which is now called X Blue, adds a blue checkmark to an account and unlocks access to a range of features including X Pro (formerly TweetDeck). X Blue is a premium service, but apparently not a service everyone wants to admit they subscribe to.
On the "About X Blue" help page, there is a new entry on the feature list called "Hide your checkmark." It's described as follows:
"As a subscriber, you can choose to hide your checkmark on your account. The checkmark will be hidden on your profile and posts. The checkmark may still appear in some places and some features could still reveal you have an active subscription. Some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden. We will continue to evolve this feature to make it better for you."
The option to hide the checkmark was first discovered by reverse engineer Allessandro Paluzzi, who tweeted a screenshot of the Verification settings page back in March showing the option to hide the blue tick. At the time, Paluzzi pointed to Twitter wanting to give users "the ability to control everything related to account verification and identity."
As well as the name change, X Blue has certainly evolved since Elon Musk acquired Twitter. The premium service continues to add new features such as the ability to edit tweets for an hour, allowing tweets to be 4,000 characters, and limiting SMS-based 2FA to subscribers. Of course, how much you pay for X Blue depends on which platform you are using when signing up.