‘Legacy’ blue ticks on Twitter were removed on Thursday as a result of Elon Musk’s contentious move to alter the platform’s verification process.
‘Legacy’ verified accounts had their blue ticks deleted by Twitter as of Thursday night, according to checks by WITHIN NIGERIA.
The change has had an impact on a number of people, including journalists, as Twitter now requires account holders to pay $8 per month to subscribe to “Twitter Blue” in order to keep their verification badges or to obtain the blue tick for the first time.
Numerous checkmarks disappeared from Twitter accounts for the users who were reluctant to pay $8 a month for the traditional blue badge.
‘Legacy’ blue ticks were initially given to verified accounts belonging to people of public interest including celebrities, politicians and journalists.
But following Musk’s takeover, only those subscribed to Twitter Blue can keep a blue tick, while businesses must now pay for a gold tick.
This decision came as part of Musk’s efforts to get rid of the so-called “lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark.”
Earlier in the month, Musk had tweeted that “Final date for removing legacy blue checks is April 20.”
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April 1 was the initial date to kickstart the removal of ‘legacy’ ticks, but many remained after this date giving rise to confusion.
Ten days later, Musk then announced that the ‘final date’ for removing these ticks would be April 20.
Nigerian singers, Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid verification badges have also been removed on the microblogging platform.
Checks on Thursday showed that the verification badges on their account have been removed.
Lagos State police spokesman Benjamin Hundeyin was also caught in the web as he jokingly said he was not paying any dime.
“Legacy verification gone. I no dey pay shishi,” he tweeted on Thursday.
Criticisms continue to trail Twitter’s decision on social media with some saying the essence of the verification was being defeated, as anyone could impersonate another just by subscribing to the Twitter Blue.
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