LEGACY blue ticks have started being removed from Twitter as the social media site continues its push to drive more people towards signing up for Twitter Blue.
Twitter Verified tweeted that legacy verified checkmarks would be removed from the site on April 20, with the main way of getting a blue tick being to sign up for Twitter Blue, which includes an £8 monthly fee for those based in the UK.
The legacy checkmarks began disappearing towards the tail end of Thursday.
Some of the biggest accounts losing their ticks include footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, cricketer Virat Kohli and former president Donald Trump, as well as the official Twitter page for the Pope.
To add to the confusion, some legacy accounts seemed to retain their ticks if linked to a verified organisation, including Barack Obama’s personal page.
Twitter Verified Organisations enables bodies of “all types”, including businesses, non-profits and government institutions, to sign up and manage their verification and to affiliate and verify any related account.
But it costs a base price of £950 a month.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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