Twitter’s legacy blue badges will be removed soon: Elon Musk

Twitter owner Elon Musk said the company will soon remove ‘legacy blue check’, the blue ticks on verified handles that have not subscribed to Twitter Blue as those with legacy blue ticks are “truly corrupt.”

The statement came in reply to a question of a user named Ria from India who said blue ticks are now jokes as they can be obtained by payment now. “Legacy blue checks will be removed soon. Those are the ones that are truly corrupt,” Elon Musk said.

The blue tick was given for free to authentic accounts of famous personalities, politicians, journalists, and public figures. Though the feature was initially launched in November of last year, it was later suspended due to the platform becoming inundated with accounts impersonating celebrities or organisations, reported Hindustan Times.

In India, the paid subscription for the blue tick is 650 per month on the website platform and 900 per month for Android and iOS users. The subscription includes many other new features in addition to getting verified. “Blue subscribers with a verified phone number will get a blue checkmark once approved,” Twitter said.

Users with a blue subscription will be able to edit tweets and post long, high-quality videos. Blue includes features such as Organize Bookmark, NFT Profile Picture, Theme, Custom App, and Navigation Icon.

Last year, Musk had announced that Twitter Blue will cost USD 8 (about ₹ 660) per month, but it will be priced differently for various markets, reported NDTV. It added that the Tesla and SpaceX Chief had defended the much-criticised paid verification plan by saying that the blue checkmark will be the “great leveler”.

“Widespread verification will democratize journalism & empower the voice of the people,” Musk had tweeted.

Twitter Blue is projected to generate $28 million in annual revenue from fewer than 300,000 subscribers worldwide—180,000 of those are in the U.S.—which is less than 1% of the $3 billion that Musk has said he hopes the program will bring in. A list of Twitter Blue subscribers developed by programmer Travis Brown shows a similar number, according to Gizmodo.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM