Twitter: Blue checkmarks for identity verification will disappear this week

Twitter says it will begin removing the blue check marks given to accounts after identity verification on Thursday. A check mark will therefore only appear for paying customers of the company.

Twitter’s Verified account says that it will start removing the check marks on Thursday. That has been postponed, because those check marks were supposed to disappear a few weeks ago, but that did not happen then. Furthermore, it would be a largely manual process, as Twitter has no automated system to find and remove the check marks.

For years, Twitter gave the check mark to organizations, companies and individuals it had verified, although the process has always remained somewhat arbitrary. The purpose of the check mark was to make it clear that it was the real account and not a parody or fake account. That was supposed to increase trust in Twitter.

That system is gone after removing the check marks. It is unknown how long that will take. What remains, is a blue check mark from the Blue subscription costing 8.47 euros per month, but this does not include verification of identity. This does happen with the gray and gold check marks. Gray check marks are for governments and government officials. Gold is for businesses.

Goodbye blue checkmark, you will soon fly away from us