Twitter Verified account no longer follows anyone hinting at windup of legacy users
In the latest turn of events, Twitter Verified — the account that follows a user when they are verified — has unfollowed everyone in its following list. The account, which has a gold tick next to its name, is no longer following anyone, hinting at the beginning of the windup of legacy verified accounts.
Twitter last month announced that all legacy verified users will lose their verification status on April 1, but nothing of sorts happened, at least immediately. However, a day later the label for verified users changed abruptly, ending the distinction between a legacy verified user and a Twitter Blue subscriber. A report by The Wall Street Journal said Twitter could not remove legacy verified users in time because it is a manual process and there is currently a single person tasked with it. Musk previously reduced Twitter’s workforce by more than half in multiple rounds of job cuts.
For anyone who holds a blue checkmark on Twitter right now, the Elon Musk-led social media platform says that account is “verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.” This led to confusion but also drew criticism from users who, in protest, refused to retain their blue tick by not paying for Twitter Blue.
Musk’s plan seems clear until a few developments make things blurry. For instance, Elon Musk revamped the Twitter Blue subscription last year, announcing that verification should not be a status symbol and that anyone who can pay can have it. While the rollout of updated Twitter Blue caused a flurry of spam accounts with blue ticks to nearly cause havoc on Twitter, Musk decided to put the plan on hold.
A second version of the new Twitter Blue subscription required a stringent checkup of accounts for verification. Although that ended the problem of blue tick handouts without proper verification, Twitter Blue subscribers met with huge criticism because they were paying for a blue tick. Blue tick on Twitter (or any other social media platform) previously meant authority and represented a genuine account that is notable in different fields. So, many verified people who did not subscribe to Twitter Blue began calling out people who were paying to appear notable and genuine on Twitter. Those calling out are legacy verified accounts, the purge of which seems to have begun.
Musk’s push for the Twitter Blue subscription is big, which is why the company is mulling to let subscribers hide their blue checkmark. Essentially, you could enjoy the Twitter Blue benefits without letting people know you are a subscriber by hiding the blue tick. That prevents trolling. Maybe the current label does the same by removing what distinguished between legacy verified accounts and Twitter Blue subscribers.
Meanwhile, Musk’s verification status has been upgraded to show his affiliation with Twitter (him being the Twitter boss). That omits him from paying for Twitter Blue and still retaining the blue checkmark.
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