Starting in April….‘All’ Twitter users have to pay to have a blue checkmark

Twitter has announced a new way to be verified on their platform. Before, users had to apply for the blue checkmark through a process where an account had to be “authentic, notable, and active,” and they had to meet the criteria.

From April 1, all Twitter users will have to pay to have a blue checkmark, even those who were previously verified. Now, they will have to pay at least a token a month for a Twitter Blue subscription to keep that verified status, or they will lose it.

Unlike before, spam or parody accounts would not be approved for the blue checkmark, and users’ verification was evoked if policies were violated. Now the social media platform will disregard those rules and would “begin winding down our legacy verification program,” and only accounts that actively subscribe to Twitter Blue will keep their verification.