Several days ago, Twitter indicated that accounts that had the coveted blue verified checkmark would no longer have them starting this weekend. They could keep them if they paid $8 a month for a Twitter Blue subscription. However, that"s not exactly what happened.
Instead of removing the checkmark, Twitter actually let most older verified users keep them after all. Forbes reports that accounts with that checkmark now show a new note, stating, "This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”
While that"s good news for the accounts that have been grandfathered into the new paid system, the notice could cause some confusion for many Twitter users. They may not know if an account owner paid for their checkmark or not.
One account that did have its verified checkmark removed was The New York Times but it was for other reasons. NBC News reports that Twitter CEO Elon Musk removed the checkmark from that page Sunday, which has 55 million followers.
Musk apparently made the move after one Twitter user made fun of the fact that the NYT stated it would not pay for Twitter Blue. Musk replied with a message stating, "Oh ok, we’ll take it off then." He then posted a couple of other messages that were critical of the media outlet"s news coverage. Other Twitter accounts operated by the NYT were not affected by this move.
Many other major media outlets besides the NYT had stated before this past weekend they would also not pay for Twitter Blue and would also not pay for their reporters to retain their blue Twitter checkmarks. However, their accounts ended up unaffected.