Twitter has finally removed the “legacy” or free blue verification tick mark granted to celebrity accounts and individuals such as politicians and journalists - a change CEO Elon Musk had repeatedly promised since his $44 billion takeover of the platform last year.
Those who pay for a Twitter Blue subscription are the only users with verification marks. However, Mr. Musk said he was personally paying for several users to keep their blue tick. He named horror novelist Stephen King, actor William Shatner, and basketball player LeBron James.
Prominent Indian users such as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin, politician Rahul Gandhi, and actor Shah Rukh Khan had all lost their verification marks as of Friday.
However, officials such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu still retained grey verification tick marks on their accounts, to confirm they were part of the government.
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Furthermore, Twitter’s terms of service was updated to show that the company was officially identified as ‘X Corp.’
“We have made some updates to our Terms of Service to reflect that Twitter, Inc. is now X Corp. This version of the Terms of Service will go into effect on May 18, 2023,” said the statement on the website.
The subscription-based Twitter Blue was paused after its launch last year due to users impersonating high-profile accounts. It was later re-launched, with both paying and non-paying Twitter users retaining their verification marks for several months.
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