Twitter Starts Long-Planned Removal Of Blue Check Marks; Purge Affects Journalists, Entertainers And Even Pope Francis
deadline.comTwitter has begun a wide-scale process of removing the blue check marks from verified account holders, a large swath of the platform’s most high-profile users including journalists, celebrities and even Pope Francis.
Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter last fall for $44 billion, had indicated April 20 would be the date when the long-planned revamp of the blue check system would take effect.
In an effort to level the playing field among all users, Musk has phased in an $8 monthly fee for blue check marks, which used to be assigned to account holders verified through an internal process.
With Musk-era Twitter starved for revenue and several times smaller in terms of its workforce, the shift makes a certain amount of sense but also marks a milestone in the company’s history.
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