Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk has announced the way his company verify users on the platform will be changed.
He made this known in a reply to a tweet by Mike Solana, revealing that “we will remove all legacy blue checks. The way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.”
Solana tweeted a screenshot of a “Verified account” tab which pops up when users click the blue checkmark next to an account’s name. The tab says: “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”
In the past, Musk has called the company’s verification policy, in which users were given blue checkmarks, a “lords and peasants system.”
Prior to he acquiring Twitter in October, the company offered free blue ticks to celebrities, government officials, journalists, and other influential Twitter users. After yesterday’s relaunch of Twitter Blue, however, users should expect this to change.
This follows a statement the new CEO made last month that “Far too many corrupt legacy Blue “verification” checkmarks exist.” Musk hinted that the company will remove legacy Blue in coming months.
“There will be a secondary tag below the name for someone who is a public figure, which is already the case for politicians,” says Musk.
The CEO has claimed that the new Twitter Blue membership, which will charge for verification, will “kill the bots” since a verified paid account will be suspended for spam or scam activity.
According to him, Twitter Blue will go for $8 per month for those who pay through the website and $11 per month for those who pay through the app on an iPhone.
The launch of Twitter’s Blue service has not gone smoothly for the CEO. After its November debut, Blue Awas taken down because of an increase in impersonations on the platform.
Last month, Blue was put on hold for the second time while Musk attempted to find a way around the 30% fee that Apple’s App Store gets from the majority of in-app purchases.
