White House Won’t Pay For Staffers Blue Checkmarks Under Twitter’s New Verification Plan

Twitter‘s decision to remove its verified blue ticks.From today (April 20), the checkmark that authenticates legacy accounts on the platform will be removed from all profiles unless users opt-in to pay for Twitter Blue subscriptions.This change is “more about treating people equally”, according to Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter in late 2022 for a staggering $44billion. He added that the move would “offer subscribers a way to enhance and customize their Twitter experience”.As the blue tick began to vanish from the site, various musicians, comedians, TV personalities, and other stars from across the entertainment industry tweeted their reactions.Yungblud wrote: “I ain’t verified anymore … kinda hard.” The Doncaster artist then shared a selfie in response to a fan who asked him to “prove” it was the real Dominic Harrison.

Twitter has finally removed blue checkmarks from legacy verified accounts and now only people who have Twitter Blue subscriptions have the checkmarks.

Twitter has begun a wide-scale process of removing the blue check marks from verified account holders, a large swath of the platform’s most high-profile users including journalists, celebrities and even Pope Francis.

Twitter took away legacy verified checkmarks on Thursday (April 20), and celebrities are reacting to the news.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk’s purge of blue check-marks from Twitter accounts verified under the company’s previous regime has begun. Now a blue check-mark badge on Twitter primarily signifies that it’s an account belonging to someone who’s paying Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, for the perk. On April 20, as Musk had announced, Twitter started un-checking thousands of “legacy” verified accounts — those which the company had previously deemed to be “active, notable and authentic” — unless those users were subscribers to Twitter Blue, which starts at $8 per month.

Doja Cat has spoken out about losing her blue tick on Twitter, arguing that it creates “higher chance that you’re a complete loser”.From tomorrow (Thursday April 20), the blue tick which authenticates true and noteworthy legacy accounts on the platform will be removed from all accounts unless users opt in to pay for Twitter Blue subscriptions.

on the network’s official website there wasn’t a single mention of the settlement. As of this writing, readers instead are being treated to stories about Joe Biden’s taxes, Tucker Carlson’s interview with Elon Musk, Ray Romano’s heart surgery, and yes, that story about a goose rescue.Former Illinois congressman and now CNN Senior Political Commentator Adam Kinzinger was among those pointing out the omission on Twitter.“Just looked at Fox News, no mention of the settlement on their website,” Kinzinger wrote.Just looked at Foxnews, no mention of the settlement on their website.

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.

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.

Since the earliest days of Twitter, the social media platform has used a blue checkmark to verify the accounts of celebrities, journalists, politicians and other notables, serving as proof that they are who they claim to be.

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.