How Twitter's removal of legacy verification checks causes concerns around authenticity? Hyderabad: Twitter implemented its policies for "Legacy Blue Checks" on Thursday, and Blue checkmarks started disappearing from the accounts of noted celebrities, media houses, and journalists. Elon Musk has been trying to make the $44bn company profitable since he purchased it in November 2022, and the move of removing the "legacy blue checks" has been one of his attempts at it.
The initial removal of the Blue checkmark was supposed to be implemented on April 1 but was extended till April 20. Before Elon Musk's takeover of the platform, the Twitter verification of accounts was in the public interest, as it verified accounts of denoted politicians, actors, journalists, etc. The Blue check earlier provided authenticity to the account, which now seems to be compromised.
Elon Musk believes that the checkmark is more of a status symbol, and anyone on the platform should be verified for a minimal fee. The controversial fee of $8 a month, which is Rs 900 per month in India for iPhones and Android smartphones, was opposed by many noted journalists and media outlets, but Musk's responses made it clear that he won't budge.
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Twitter policies clearly stated that in order to receive the Blue checkmark, a user must be subscribed to Twitter Blue, with a complete account active for more than 30 days, and no signs of being misleading or deceptive. But several experts have pointed out that these policies may not be fool-proof, because a lot of accounts on the platform managed by humans exhibit spam-like behaviour, and verifying such accounts might solidify their behaviour on the platform.
The removal of these free verification badges has raised concerns about misinformation and impersonation. In fact, ever since Musk took over Twitter last year, impersonation has been a matter of concern for the platform, and it had to pause and make changes to the subscription program because some users started posing as "verified" accounts of noted celebrities. Still, a subscription to Twitter Blue does not guarantee you a long-term Blue checkmark, as the platform holds the authority to remove the checkmark if they detect any "suspicious" activity, violation, or manipulation of their terms.
