Legacy blue ticks are now gone from Twitter

The last Twitter users who retained blue checks from the company’s previous verification method had their badges removed on Thursday. If you want one of the blue badges, you’ll need to pay for the social media company’s Twitter Blue subscription service.

Twitter announced that it would begin retiring its so-called legacy verified program in early April, and CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the last of the blue ticks will be removed on April 20.

The Twitter Blue subscription service costs $8 per month on the web and $11 for iOS and Android in the US for individuals, or $1,000 per month for businesses.

You can sign up for Twitter Blue on the web by going to Twitter.com and selecting | More ▼ > Twitter Blue > subscribe. If you subscribe on iOS or Android, go to profile menu > Twitter Blue > subscribe. In both cases, you will need to verify your phone number.

There are some restrictions to limit impersonation: new accounts will not be able to sign up for Twitter Blue for 30 days, and accounts that have been inactive for 30 days or have changed aspects of their profile (photo, screen name, username ) in the last three days you will not be able to register, according to Twitter Blue Help Page. Twitter is “working on an updated process for new Twitter accounts to help minimize impersonation risks and may impose and change waiting periods for new accounts without notice,” the page said.

If you pay for the service, you will get several benefits such as tweet editing, significantly expanded limit of 10,000 characters per tweet (from 280), ability to upload higher quality videos, wider visibility, two-factor authentication using SMS messages in addition to authenticating apps and of course the blue tick.

Twitter said more features are coming soon, including priority ranking in replies, mentions and search, as well as reducing ads. Expiration Alessandro Paluzzi claims that Twitter is also working on another benefit to hide the blue tick, which now only shows that someone is a Twitter Blue subscriber.

The older verification program was free and was mainly provided to celebrities, journalists, politicians, brands and prominent individuals as a method of authentication. After Elon Musk bought Twitter and took over as CEO in October, he rolled out blue badges only to paid Twitter Blue subscribers to generate revenue.

Before they removed legacy tags, some celebrities like LeBron James and Stephen King said they wouldn’t pay for Twitter Blue, only to find they were given a blue badge indicating they were subscribers. musk tweeted that he “pays for several personally” and answered to King, implying that he paid his Blue subscription. James reportedly declined Twitter’s offer of a free Blue subscription, but his profile shows a checkmark suggesting he paid for Twitter Blue, according to Alex Heath of The Verge.