This story originally appeared on the Daily Dot.
The question of who gets a blue checkmark is one of the most visible problems of Elon Musk‘s tenure at Twitter—with increasingly ridiculous repercussions. This weekend’s update was impressively self-defeating, with Musk failing to implement his much-touted plan to make checkmarks a commercial status symbol.
Last week, Twitter announced plans to revoke verification badges from “legacy” verified accounts— including brands, celebrities, and media outlets—starting on April 1. After this (with a few exceptions) the only accounts with checkmarks would be Twitter Blue subscribers—a subscription service that costs between $8 and $11 per month for regular users, or $1,000 per month for “organizations” (which warrant a gold checkmark).
This idea was roundly mocked on the app, with several celebrities publicly stating they wouldn’t pay for verification. ….
