The “final date” for the removal of Twitter’s distinctive blue checkmarks, which have long been viewed as rewards to be earned, is April 20, according to CEO Elon Musk’s announcement on Tuesday.

The Tesla CEO tweeted, using the microblogging site he had just bought, “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20.”

Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023

Tweeps responded to Musk’s post right after, expressing their fury and displeasure and accusing the CEO of doing this in an effort to increase his earnings.

Twitter stated last month that it would begin removing the recognizable blue checkmarks on April 1.

On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: https://t.co/gzpCcwOpLp

Organizations can sign up for https://t.co/RlN5BbuGA3…

— Verified (@verified) March 23, 2023

Checkmarks were used to confirm accounts of individuals and groups as active, genuine, and “notable” accounts of interest before Elon took control of the microblogging site.

Most significantly, users were not required to pay for the certified checkmarks because they were free to use.

The Twitter Blue membership plan, which would provide users access to subscriber-only services like Edit Tweet, 1080p video uploads, and reader mode, was first mentioned by Twitter in mid-December.

Users of Twitter were told that they may “purchase” a blue check through a subscription model for $8 per month (IOS and Android signups will cost $11 per month owing to app store expenses). Twitter also announced at the time that additional checkmark colors and badges would be offered for purchase to indicate if an account belongs to a corporation or a government.

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Source: thenews