Elon Musk’s Twitter Updates Verified User Descriptions so You Can’t Tell Who Paid for a Blue Check-Mark Anymore

Todd Spangler

Twitter had said it was going to start removing the blue check-marks of legacy verified users starting April 1, so that only people who paid Elon Musk’s company $8 or $11 per month would have the badge going forward.

On Sunday, Twitter did something different: It updated the language in the description of verified users so that now you can’t tell who is paying Musk for the blue check-mark — and who isn’t. The text for both Twitter Blue subscribers and legacy verified accounts now reads, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”

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Previously, the verification badge for those who paid for Twitter Blue had a description that said, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue.” In addition, accounts verified under Twitter’s previous regime — as being considered notable and authentic — had formerly said, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.” Twitter had made that change in December, and Musk boasted that he had come up with the wording himself.

Following the change, some legacy verified Twitter users wanted to make it clear that they aren’t in fact paying for Twitter Blue.

“I just want you all to know that I have never paid Apartheid Elmo $11 for a check, and never will,” tweeted Kashana Cauley, an author and TV writer (“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”).

Separately, Twitter has launched a program for businesses and organizations to charge $1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies and nonprofits; gray for governments), the company will waive that fee for its 500 largest advertising clients and the 10,000 most-followed brands, companies and organizations that have been previously verified (a group that includes Variety‘s Twitter account).

On Sunday, the gold verification badge for the New York Times on Twitter was removed. That came after an exchange on Twitter, in which Musk, replying to someone noting that the publication said it would not pay for verification, say, “Oh ok, we’ll take it off then.” Later Sunday, Musk tweeted, “NY Times is being incredible hypocritical here, as they are super aggressive about forcing everyone to pay their subscription.”

The New York Times reaffirmed Sunday that it is not planning to pay the monthly fee for verification of its institutional Twitter accounts, nor will it reimburse reporters for the verification of personal accounts.

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