Twitter removes blue checkmarks from MeitY, MIB accounts & several other verified users

Elon Musk had earlier set April 20 as the 'final date' to remove legacy blue checkmarks on the platform

Twitter has begun removing legacy blue checkmarks from thousands of accounts including government, celebrities, business leaders, and politicians on April 20, thereby fulfilling one of owner Elon Musk's long-stated plan to shore up the social media firm's subscription revenue.

Last month, Twitter had announced that it will remove checkmarks from accounts that were previously verified by its legacy verification system but are yet to sign up for its $8 monthly subscription service Twitter Blue.

Among the prominent accounts that have lost the blue checkmarks include the official accounts for India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), and PIB Fact Check unit, personal accounts of Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

A screenshot of MeitY's Twitter account that no longer has a blue checkmark

To be sure, at the time of writing this article, the personal accounts of the IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and I&B minister Anurag Thakur currently have a grey checkmark, which Twitter says that it denotes the account represents a government or multilateral organisation. Eligible government organizations or officials can currently apply for a grey checkmark for free.

Film personalities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, and Priyanka Chopra; cricketers such as Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and business leaders such as Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, and Uday Kotak have also lost their checkmarks.

Globally, former US president Donald Trump and public personalities with millions of followers such as Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey no longer have the checkmarks.

That said, Musk said on April 20 that he is "personally" footing the bill for three celebrities- LeBron James, William Shatner, and Stephen King - all of whom have previously said they won't pay for Twitter Blue to retain their blue check mark.

Read: Doge in, Larry Bird out: How Elon Musk is reshaping Twitter

Overhauling Twitter's old verification system

Under Twitter's earlier account verification system, these checkmarks denoted notable and authentic users on the platform and the company had doled it out accounts it determined were authentic and in public interest for free.

Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, however had publicly stated last year that the way in which these checkmarks were given out was "corrupt and nonsensical" and even termed the verification system as a "lords & peasants system".

Instead, he introduced an option for people to buy a blue checkmark in December 2022, through the firm's revamped Twitter Blue service, while winding down the previous verification system. The mercurial billionaire said that users who were previously verified will lose their checkmarks if they don't sign up for the subscription service. Twitter had about 420,000 verified accounts under the legacy verification system.

Twitter Blue is one of Twitter's key initiatives to diversify its revenue streams beyond advertising and is crucial for its future revenue growth as Musk looks to turn around the fortunes of the debt-laden social media firm.

A look at key product and policy changes at Twitter

In recent months, Twitter has also brought in several features which were previously available for free, under the Twitter Blue subscription. They include being eligible for recommendation in the company's algorithmic 'For You' timeline, SMS-based two-factor authentication, and the ability to vote in polls, among others.

The subscription service is available in India for a monthly fee of Rs 650 on the web and Rs 900 on mobile devices for individual user accounts. Brands and organisations will have to sign up for a significantly pricier 'Verified for Organisations' programme, whose subscription starts at $1,000 per month. These accounts will receive a gold checkmark and a square avatar. In India, the service is priced at Rs 82,300 per month.

Organisations can also choose to affiliate an individual or entity associated with them for an additional $50 per month (Rs 4,120 per month) per affiliate account.

An affiliate account receives the verification mark as well as an affiliate badge (a small image of the parent company's profile picture) displayed next to the checkmark.

This move also comes at a time when Twitter has ceased to be an independent company after merging with X Corp, a newly established firm by Musk. The Tesla chief executive has previously announced that the Twitter acquisition would be an “accelerant" for creating X, which he dubbed as an "everything app"