Twitter on Sunday updated its description label for verified accounts to make it indistinguishable whether a user with a blue checkmark paid for the platform’s subscription service or was already verified before the subscription included a verification badge.
The update comes after Twitter elected not to follow through with its initial plan to remove “legacy” verified users of their blue checkmarks if they do not pay for the subscription service.
These are the accounts that were verified before Twitter Blue subscribers could pay to receive a blue checkmark next to their name.
All verified accounts will now display the same description, which reads, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”
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Twitter previously labeled whether an account was a “legacy” verified user or an account that is verified because the user is subscribed to Twitter Blue.
CEO Elon Musk replied to a tweet about the update with a relieved face emoji.
The platform initially said it would remove the blue checkmark from verified accounts that did not subscribe to Twitter Blue. NBA forward LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs both said they would not be paying to keep the verification badge.
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Under that rule, organizations would have to pay $1,000 per month to keep their verification checkmark.
The White House said it will not pay to be a verified organization, and that staff who sign up for Twitter Blue will not be reimbursed.
The New York Times similarly said it would not pay for its verified badge and would not reimburse journalists who pay for the $8 subscription, which led Musk to remove the newspaper’s checkmark.
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The removal of The New York Times’ badge comes after Musk wrote in a since-deleted tweet Sunday morning that accounts would be given a “grace” period to subscribe to Twitter Blue but that those who state they will not be paying for the subscription will have their checkmarks stripped immediately.
James and Mahomes still have their blue checkmarks.
