Twitter to Revoke ‘Legacy’ Verified Badges in April, Leaving Only Paying Subscribers With Blue Check-Marks

K.J. Yossman Elon Musk has called his take-over of Twitter “quite painful” in an unexpected late-night interview with the BBC. The tech billionaire sat down with BBC North America tech reporter James Clayton at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco on Tuesday evening local time. Asked about his previous comments regarding Twitter being “painful,” Musk acknowledged that was still the case but added, “I wasn’t stabbed, like some people around here.” The comment is understood to refer to the murder of Cash app founder Bob Lee, who was stabbed to death in San Francisco last week.

In a last-minute interview given to the BBC overnight, Twitter owner Elon Musk said his time at the social media platform has been “a rollercoaster” with a “high pain level”. Delivering updates on a number of his more controversial decisions, he said “mistakes [have been] made along the way” but that the social media giant is “headed to a good place.”

Doja Cat is speaking out about what she really feels about losing her verified blue check mark on Twitter.

If you have a legacy verified account on Twitter, get ready to say goodbye to your blue checkmark very soon unless you want to pay to keep it.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk has set a deadline for purging legacy blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company’s previous regime — maybe. On Tuesday, the billionaire owner of Twitter tweeted, “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.” Musk is notorious for his love of memes and jokes, including those involving 420 (i.e., the unofficial day/time for toking up). So it’s not fully clear if April 20 is actually the cutoff date for revoking verification from accounts unless they’ve signed up for a Twitter Blue subscription. Twitter previously announced that starting April 1, it would begin removing the blue check-mark badges from legacy verified accounts — those which the company had previously deemed to be notable and/or authentic — unless users have signed up for the Twitter Blue subscription service, which starts at $8 per month. That doesn’t appear to have begun in a widespread way at this point.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Lara Cohen, after exiting Elon Musk’s Twitter last fall, is joining Linktree as VP of partners and business development. At Linktree, Cohen will oversee business development, strategic partnerships with tech platforms and the company’s community of creators across entertainment, music and other verticals. She reports to Linktree president Mike Olson. Cohen previously was Twitter’s global VP of partners and marketing, in charge of the group that worked to support celebrities and influencers on the platform. While at Twitter, she led activations including the iconic Ellen DeGeneres selfie at the 2014 Oscars and the #TweetItInto existence campaign. Cohen announced her departure from Twitter on Nov. 7, 2022, a little over a week after Elon Musk closed his $44 billion deal to acquire the social network.

Mediaite.Twitter has similarly blocked would-be rivals like Mastodon from sharing live links on the platform. But Substack is the home of hundreds of influential writers who need platforms like Twitter and Facebook to share it beyond their subscription bases.Taibbi said in a Substack chat that Twitter is now “unusable” for him, and that Musk did not respond to his questions about the move, Mashable’s Matt Binder reported.

Elon Musk has made a noticeable change on Twitter. On Monday, without an explanation, the social media site debuted a new logo on the web version.

decrying the label as one used “to designate official state mouthpieces and propaganda outlets in countries such as Russia and China.””“NPR operates independently of the U.S. government,” the nonprofit media company said in a story posting on its website.

Jack Black has said he’s “embarrassed” to have a blue tick on Twitter following owner Elon Musk’s plan to enforce a monthly fee.Appearing at the LA premiere of The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Saturday (April 1), the actor discussed whether he’ll pay the proposed $8 (£4.99) monthly fee to keep a blue tick on the platform through a Twitter Blue subscription.“I don’t know if I’m going to pay for it,” Black told Variety. “I’m a little embarrassed by the blue check to be honest with you.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk is now using the design of Twitter itself to make hilarious (?) jokes. On Monday, without warning, the iconic Twitter bird logo on the home button of the social network’s web version changed to the “doge” of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. (Twitter’s mobile apps weren’t changed.) The doge image (of a Shiba Inu) is part of the logo of the Dogecoin blockchain and cryptocurrency, which was created as a joke in 2013 — to mock other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Musk, who bought Twitter last fall in a $44 billion deal, is a well-known superfan of the Doge meme and he has promoted Dogecoin both on Twitter and during his appearance last year hosting “Saturday Night Live.” After the change to Twitter’s web logo Monday, the value of Dogecoin rose more than 20%.

Twitter's legacy blue checkmarks remain in place, despite the platform committing to remove them on April 1.

The White House won’t pay for staffers to have Twitter’s blue verification checkmarks, as platform owner Elon Musk implements a plan to remove them unless users pay for the service.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor If nothing else, $44 billion has bought Twitter power-user Elon Musk status as the No. 1 most-followed account on the social network. As of Thursday morning, Musk had 133.088 million users — up more than 20% since he closed the Twitter deal last October. That pushed the billionaire ahead of the previously most-followed account, that of Barack Obama, who currently has about 133.042 million followers. (To be sure, this is according to the public counters operated by Twitter, which Musk controls.) Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech “absolutist,” is notoriously fond of posting memes and jokes on Twitter. (Prior to his acquisition, according to Twitter’s legal team, Musk also used the service to disparage the company and its employees.) Musk has claimed he did not buy the company “to make more money” but to “try to help humanity, whom I love.” He also has said he was “obviously overpaying” for Twitter.

Twitter users can expect another string of shake-ups as some features for non-paying accounts will soon be scrapped.

Elon Musk has defended his Twitter subscription plan after it was criticised by Star Trek actor William Shatner.After acquiring the social media platform in late 2022, the billionaire introduced Twitter Blue, a service that allows anyone to purchase a blue tick/verified account for a monthly subscription fee.Previously, blue ticks were typically given to notable accounts, such as high-profile figures, celebrities, major companies, politicians and members of the media.However, as part of his new plan, Musk has warned that these “legacy accounts” – those who received blue ticks before his takeover – will lose their verified status unless they pay the monthly subscription fee.“Hey @elonmusk, what’s this about blue checks going away unless we pay Twitter?” Shatner tweeted Musk on Saturday (March 25).“I’ve been here for 15 years giving my [time] & witty thoughts all for bupkis. Now you’re telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free? What is this-the Colombia Records & Tape Club?”In defence of his new program, Musk wrote: “It’s more about treating everyone equally.

Twitter users should brace for a big change coming to the app this week as the company begins phasing out the iconic blue check marks.

premium service championed by Twitter's billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk. After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Friday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who'd been verified for free to pony up or lose their legacy status. "It will be glorious," he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Friday is also April Fools Day.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is Elon Musk’s move to grant verified blue check-marks only to paying Twitter users designed to prop up the company’s revenue — or is it supposedly to democratize the social network? After actor William Shatner groused about Twitter’s plan to revoke legacy blue check-marks as of April 1 and force users to pay for the privilege, the multibillionaire tech baron claimed the subscription-based verification program is about fairness, not lucre. “It’s more about treating everyone equally,” Musk tweeted Sunday evening in replying to Shatner. “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities imo.”

All inquiries from members of the press directed to Twitter’s official press email now receive the same automatic reply: a poop emoji.