The social network Twitter withdrew this Thursday the blue verification marks to accounts that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue, a subscription that costs 8 dollars a month, thus definitively breaking the business policy prior to Elon Musk, when Twitter gave this verification free of charge to public persons.
“We will remove legacy checkmarks,” the Twitter Verified account announced yesterday in a tweet.
Twitter Blue users can edit their tweets, post content of up to 10,000 characters, and have their tweets boosted by the platform’s algorithm.
Yet only 0.2% of web users pay for Twitter Blue: In March, Twitter Blue had around 116,000 confirmed signups across the web, up 138% from the previous month, according to Similarweb.
This amount of subscriptions does not produce enough revenue to offset the money the company lost when various companies stopped advertising on Twitter with the arrival of the CEO of Tesla and XSpace.
Musk’s constant controversies and swings during his first year online have caused advertisers to flee the 2006-founded social network in droves, causing ad revenue to recently plunge by as much as 75%, according to The Washington. Post.
Many users and media outlets have said they don’t plan to pay the fee of $8 per month per employee and $1,000 per month for their organizations’ checkmarks, the latter colored yellow.