(Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A year after removing blue checkmarks from legacy Twitter accounts, Elon Musk is reviving them on select accounts, whether they want them or not. (Spoiler: most people do not.)
“What happened? I didn’t pay for this. I would NEVER pay for this,” actress Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted last night.
The blue verification checkmarks served as a symbol of legitimacy to help the public identify accounts belonging to celebrities, politicians, public service agencies, activists, and more. But Musk killed off legacy blue checkmarks in 2023 because "the way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical." Instead, he opened up the verification badge to anyone willing to pay at least $8 per month for a premium subscription.
This immediately created confusion, of course, forcing Musk to restore them on accounts with over 1 million followers.
Fast forward to last week when Musk tweeted his plan to give free verified badges to accounts with a certain number of subscribers. "Going forward, all ? accounts with over 2500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free and accounts with over 5000 will get Premium+ for free,” Musk said.
As a result, Twitter has essentially re-issued the blue checkmark to numerous users who had them removed last year when they declined to subscribe to X Premium. The only problem? The public perception of the blue checkmark has plummeted in value since Musk acquired Twitter
The social media platform has since gone through numerous controversial changes, from rolling back content moderation to reactivating banned users. Musk argues he did so to promote free speech, but critics say the overhaul has unleashed more hate speech on the platform.
In addition, because anyone can buy access to a blue checkmark, the verified badge has also been exploited to push scams and misinformation. It explains why a growing number of influential users on Twitter/X are going out of their way to disown receiving the blue checkmark.
“The check mark is back and I want to make it absolutely clear that I did not give this place a single penny of my money,” tweeted privacy researcher Eva Galperin.
“Why do I have a blue check next to my profile???” tweeted AI researcher Timnit Gebru. “Sounds like a prank but April fools has passed?”
“Wait a minute…my blue check is back?” tweeted Angela Rasmussen, a virologist. “Thanks, I guess, except it’s kind of embarrassing to be in the same elite class as millions of disinformation-mongers, crypto scammers, and porn bots. I certainly did not pay for this shit.”
Musk hasn’t fully explained why he restored blue checkmarks, but it may be an attempt to entice those same users to one day pay for an X Premium subscription. It doesn’t look like the plan is working.
How to Remove the Blue Checkmark on X
If you're among those who don't want people to think you pay for X Premium, the company does offer a way to remove it from your account.
As X explains: "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."
To drop it from your account on the web, navigate to More > Settings > Premium > Hide your blue checkmark. On mobile, look for the Profile customization option under Premium.