Twitter to remove legacy blue tick from April 1

Microblogging platform Twitter will remove legacy blue checkmarks from April 1 as it looks to sell verified badges for ₹650 per month on the web and ₹900 on mobile devices in India.

"On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks," the Elon Musk-owned microblogging platform said in a tweet.

This comes weeks after Twitter launched its coveted Twitter Blue subscription programme in India on February 8. The social media platform offers a discounted price for its annual subscription at ₹6,800 on the web and ₹9,400 on mobile devices.

Twitter also announced the availability of the Blue subscription globally on Friday. "Twitter Blue is now available globally! Sign up today to get your blue checkmark, prioritized ranking in conversations, half ads, long tweets, bookmark folders, custom navigation, edit tweet, undo tweet, and more," the microblogging platform said.

Once an account is verified with Twitter Blue, the user is able to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos, custom navigate, bookmark folders, and see 50% fewer ads in the home timeline. The feature also allows users to create longer tweets which are up to 4,000 characters long. A Twitter Blue subscriber can edit a tweet up to five times within 30 minutes.

In November, Twitter had to suspend its new verification scheme that allowed anyone to buy a blue check mark for $8. The Twitter Blue subscription programme wiped off billions of dollars from Eli Lilly's market cap after its official Twitter handle was impersonated to spread disinformation.

To crack down on fake verified accounts, Twitter said it will enable organisations to identify which other Twitter accounts are actually associated with them.

Twitter Blue offers a gold checkmark for official business accounts, whereas the official accounts for government and multilateral accounts have a grey checkmark.

Last year, Twitter fired 90% of its employees in India. Globally, the company sacked anywhere between 45% and 50% of its total workforce.

In February, Elon Musk said that Twitter's algorithm will be made open source and will be improved gradually in the coming months.

The world's richest man acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October last year. The takeover of Twitter concluded after a long legal battle, which saw many flip-flops by Musk, forcing Twitter to move court against him. The Tesla CEO had first proposed to buy out Twitter in April 2022. Musk later tried to back out of the deal, citing Twitter's inability to provide data on spam or fake accounts on its platform.