Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Twitter, had announced that the coveted blue ticks from legacy verified accounts will be removed from April 1. It was seen as a move which will let more users sign up for Twitter Blue, the company's paid subscription programme. However, the microblogging site has so far not followed through on the announcement and users continue to have the legacy blue checkmark on their profiles, as per a report in The Guardian.
On March 24, Twitter Verified said in a tweet, "On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks."
Twitter Blue is paid subscription-based programme that offers the blue checkmark next to the users' profile name beside other features. Launched in India in February, it costs Rs 900 per month on iOS and Android devices and Rs 650 on the web. Users can also buy an annual plan that comes with a 12 per cent discount.
However, as of today, Elon Musk-led Twitter has only removed the gold "verified" marker from the New York Times' main account. The CEO also bashed the news organization as spreading "propaganda". In the morning, Mr Musk targeted NYT in several tweets, saying, "The real tragedy of @NYTimes is that their propaganda isn't even interesting" and calling its main feed the "equivalent of diarrhoea" and "unreadable".
The New York Times was one of the news media organisations, businesses and charities that had already lost their blue tick and been identified by Mr Musk's new system as verified company accounts with a gold tick.
After the launch of the Twitter Blue subscription service, the organisations would have to pay a monthly fee of $1,000 (Rs 82,410) in the United States and $50 (Rs 4,120) for each extra affiliated account to keep the gold tick.
The New York Times said it would not pay for a verified business account and would subscribe for a blue tick only for journalists finding it essential for their reporting needs. With nearly 55 million followers, the company's primary account has lost its gold checkmark, but affiliate profiles, like those for its travel and opinion sections, still display the ticks.
