Twitter’s Checkmark Blues

This past November, Twitter unveiled an option for users to purchase their own verification for the low-monthly-cost of $8.00. This came in the shape of a blue checkmark next to the username of those who paid for it. In a surprising turn of events for Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, users began to abuse the option. Many new accounts popped up, posing as popular businesses and people, including the likes of Nintendo, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, McDonald’s, and even Elon Musk himself.

This caused a lot of tension in the slowly diminishing workforce of Twitter, as they rushed to fix Twitter Blue’s near-instant impersonation issues. Recently, a more polished version of the subscription relaunched, providing a more secure way of handing out the tags to verified accounts.

Governmental accounts will now receive a grey checkmark, businesses will receive a gold checkmark, and individuals will continue to have blue checkmarks. Individuals must now provide a verified phone number to gain verification after their accounts are checked. These changes will put an end to the difficulties that Twitter had regarding their service, or at least that is the main hope behind them. The pricing has also changed, staying at $8.00 per month for web users, but rising to $11.00 per month for iOS users. The change in price clearly reflects the struggling relationship between Elon Musk and Apple, as he has threatened to remove Twitter from the respective app store after certain cuts on sales through the app.

You may be wondering what the point is of paying another monthly fee, just for a little mark next to your username. Well, I’m glad you asked, because I honestly have no idea. Twitter notes that the service delivers “early access to select features, like Edit Tweet.” (Twitter) As cool as it would be to change a spelling mistake on a Tweet from seven years ago, I would hope for a better reason to get the service. As of now, you’re probably better off saving the money or spending it on something else.