Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said the platform will “sunset” original blue badge verification in the coming months, removing the blue badge from accounts that received the checkmark prior to Musk’s takeover of the platform last year.
Before Musk’s turbulent acquisition of Twitter last year, blue verification badges symbolised accounts that had provided information to verify they were genuine and represented the company or individual they claimed they did.
However, as part of Musk’s rampant effort to monetise the platform after his $44 billion buyout, Musk allowed any user to purchase the once-sought after blue badge as part of the service’s pay-monthly Twitter Blue subscription.
This lead to a spate of significant impersonations and confusion on the platform as any user could purchase the once-meaningful blue badge and claim their account represented whoever they wished, with no clear way to differentiate genuine accounts from impersonators.
Now, Musk has suggested that accounts that were given a blue verification badge through the platform’s previous verification process prior to his takeover will have their badges removed in the coming months, saying Twitter plans to “sunset” what it calls “legacy verified accounts” this year.
Responding to a tweet on Friday, Musk said “Twitter’s legacy Blue Verified is unfortunately deeply corrupted, so will sunset in a few months.”
Musk has previously claimed that the legacy verification system was corrupt, saying rogue Twitter employees had been selling blue badges for up to $15k, allowing people to buy the verification checkmark.
Neither Musk or Twitter have confirmed when legacy verified accounts will loose their badge, nor whether these accounts will have any way of showing that they were previously verified through the old verification system.
