KEY POINTS

  • Twitter confirmed it has "removed the old application" process
  • It will also offer gold checkmarks for businesses and gray checks for government accounts
  • Many people have criticized Musk's comments about the verification process

Elon Musk announced late Monday that Twitter will lift all legacy blue checkmarks within a few months, triggering a debate among businesspersons, influencers, politicians and other notable people who previously had a blue check.

"In a few months, we will remove all legacy blue checks. The way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical," the Twitter CEO said in response to a post by the Founders Fund vice-president Mike Solana.

Following Musk's tweet, Twitter confirmed it has "removed the old application" process.

The company also said that accounts verified through the old process will not lose their blue ticks "at this time." However, the Twitter Support team will remove blue checkmarks if the accounts change their display name or profile photos. These profiles will then be reviewed.

As part of its new verification system, Twitter will offer gold checkmarks for businesses and gray checks for government and multilateral accounts.

Musk launched a paid service last month where users had to pay $8 a month to get blue checkmarks. But it was paused less than 48 hours after the launch due to an influx of fake verified accounts, which impersonated individuals and businesses, including former President Donald Trump, Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, McDonald's and Nintendo America.

Under its updated Twitter Blue subscription service, users will have to retain their usernames, display names and profile pictures one week before purchasing the plan, TechCrunch reported.

Many businesspersons, influencers, politicians and other notable individuals have reacted to Musk's latest announcement.

Wayne Dupree, the host of the "Wayne Dupree Show" podcast, believes the Tesla CEO is trying to explain "that he doesn't know when things went corrupt so everybody loses."

Dupree was seemingly referring to Musk's previous statement about Twitter having "far too many corrupt legacy Blue 'verification' checkmarks."

Gary Black, managing partner at The Future Fund, said he went through a "pretty rigorous" verification process, adding that "at least we are real people with real names," alluding to the presence of bot accounts on the platform.

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Democratic National Committee (DNC) member David Atkins said Twitter will become "irrelevant" once "rightwing fanbois who pay you get prioritized in the algos."

"Enjoy lighting your $44B on fire," Atkins said.

Spycraft Entertainment co-founder John Sipher asked Musk what "sensible way" will Twitter take for verification moving forward. "I'm pretty confident I'm real," he noted.

Actress Kiki Melendez said Musk's move would be "such an insult to the people that worked hard to get a huge following and interaction."

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Others like best-selling author Jon Gordon and businessman Jeremy Fall also chimed in, arguing that their accounts were verified through "recognition."

Musk completed his Twitter buyout deal in October. Since then, he has brought in a host of changes to the platform, including the paid Twitter Blue and massive layoffs that affected more than 3,700 employees.

Illustration shows Elon Musk photo and Twitter logo
Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Reuters