The Twitter platform put the blue authentication mark on accounts for the first time in 2009, to indicate that the accounts that have obtained this mark have been verified and are reliable, and thus the account belongs to the person or brand representing it, and this makes users aware with certainty that they are They follow a working account, and it's not a parody account or a fake account.
After Elon Musk took over Twitter last year, the notarization tag became the focus of all users' attention. Musk decided to launch a new service called "Twitter Blue", which interested people can pay a monthly fee to take advantage of.
Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2023, the old verification flag will be removed for accounts that don't sign up for Twitter Blue based on Musk's edits. Therefore, anyone who wants to keep the verification mark in their account must sign up for Twitter Blue, which costs $8 per month.
What will happen to your verified account if you don't sign up for Twitter Blue?
Twitter Blue is popular because it will help accounts that subscribe to it increase the visibility of their tweet in replies, mentions, and search results.
In addition, For You will no longer recommend content submitted by unverified accounts, according to Musk's tweet Monday.
Twitter's "For You" feature aims to display the most popular and interactive content according to the user's interests, as this news is organized in a non-chronological manner. A user's unsubscribing to the Twitter Blue service may result in that user's content not being shown to non-subscribers, thus affecting the functionality of the feature and other features. The news was displayed according to popularity and reach, and this helps content producers who have large audiences, as they focused on exposure based on cost.
In addition, voting in Twitter polls will be limited to verified accounts only.
Musk justified his decision by saying that it is the only prudent way to counter the proliferation of advanced AI bots on the platform, and he has not identified evidence of the impact of these bots yet.
Will people join Twitter Blue to get verified?
It all depends on whether the account holder wants to keep the certificate of authentication or not, and some celebrities and organizations will choose not to pay, as they already have a large number of followers who will keep seeing their posts.
The day of the decision has already begun, as a group of the world's leading media outlets announced their refusal to pay sums to maintain the verification mark on the accounts of institutions and their journalists, a few hours before Twitter implemented this measure.
The New York Times, which owns several accounts and has about 55 million followers on Twitter, announced that it will not participate in the paid “Twitter Blue” service to confirm its accounts, nor will it pay fees to confirm its personal Twitter accounts except in cases necessary to cover the events.
The Washington Post confirmed that it will not pay any expenses, whether to the accounts of the newspaper or the accounts of the writers, since the certification mark no longer shows experience and professionalism.
Other news agencies such as the Los Angeles Times, Politico and Vox Media Group have followed suit.
Some micro-businesses that promote their services on Twitter and seek to increase the reach of their content to a larger audience may choose to pay for a checker mark.