On Thursday, Elon Musk's Twitter began a purge of blue verification check marks from users who have not signed up for its subscription service. The checks disappeared from the accounts of journalists, academics, celebrities, and even some government agencies, including the official account for US Citizenship and Immigration Services and accounts for some state Customs and Border Patrol offices. The initial rollout of the change appeared to be fairly glitchy, as blue checks disappeared and reappeared on some accounts, and some high-profile legacy verified accounts also did not seem to lose their checks, at least at first.
The change has created an even greater risk of impersonation of high-profile users and confusion over the veracity of information on the platform. It could also discourage some high-profile users at risk of being imitated on the site from using the platform. Immediately following the disappearance of legacy blue checks, some users began tweeting that they planned to leave the site.
Twitter had previously said it would "begin winding down" blue checks granted under its old verification system on April 1. In order to stay verified, users would have to pay $8 per month to join the platform's Twitter Blue subscription service, which has allowed accounts to pay for verification since December. However, instead of removing all legacy blue checks, Twitter only removed the check mark from a single account from The New York Times, a publication Musk has repeatedly criticized, and changed the language on its site in a way that obscures why users are verified.
The decision to move forward with the change is just the latest example of Musk's Twitter upending the experience for users, and in this case, not just any users, but many of the most high-profile accounts that have long been a key selling point for the platform. Prominent users such as actor William Shatner and anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky have previously pushed back against the idea that they should have to pay for a feature that keeps them safe from impersonation.
Musk, for his part, has previously presented changes to Twitter's verification system as a way of "treating everyone equally." The paid feature could also drive revenue, which could help Musk, who is on the hook for significant debt after buying Twitter for $44 billion. However, experts in online inauthentic behavior have said the plan is unlikely to deter bad actors, who could just as easily pay to be verified.