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It’s the end of an era on Twitter.
Many users on the platform on Thursday said they lost their verified blue check marks, posting screenshots of their profiles sans verification.
As of early Thursday afternoon, celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian had lost their checkmarks. Prominent TV personalities such as CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow lost theirs as well. Public figures relating to all sectors of society, from Bill Gates to Pope Francis, also lost their checks.
Accounts with verified blue check marks had been awarded the badges by the company’s previous leadership as a way to identify accounts belonging to public organizations and high-profile users. The platform had initially said it would wind down the system on April 1. But the date passed and nothing happened. Then last week, CEO Elon Musk announced a new date of April 20.
As the removal process was underway on Thursday, some users reported confusing glitches — they saw their blue check marks disappear, then reappear, only to disappear once again.
But most users who saw their check marks removed were ready to say goodbye.
The removal of the check marks is the latest step by Musk to remake Twitter since buying the platform in October for $44 billion, casting himself as the steward of an essential public forum while driving off some of the well-known people who used it.
The move has already prompted fears that Twitter users will have one less tool to distinguish known sources from impersonators or hoaxes.
The check marks, which were free, are now available through Twitter Blue — a subscription service the company launched last year.
The $8-per-month service, which also allows users to edit and undo tweets, was quickly pulled after impersonators flourished. It was relaunched in December.
Verification badges are removed through a mostly manual process, and the system that powers that process is prone to breaking, The Washington Post reported. NBC News has not verified that reporting.
Twitter first began adding verification labels to certain accounts in 2009 after someone on the service impersonated baseball manager Tony La Russa and La Russa sued the company.
The blue badges reassured some people that at least some of what they saw on Twitter came from a credible or at least well-known source, such as a government agency, news organization, corporation, entertainer or athlete.
But over time, who was granted verification became an increasing source of conflict and envy. The term “blue checks” became internet slang for a class of elites. Twitter froze the program for four years to consider changes before resuming it in 2021, largely as it had been.
Musk has said that he wanted to see changes to the check marks since last April, even before he offered to buy Twitter.
On Wednesday and Thursday, many users prepared for the check’s removal.
“Me joining you all tomorrow unverified,” actress Halle Berry wrote.
“please connect w/ me elsewhere… insta MONICA_LEWINSKY and most of the other new places that have real verification under my name,” Monica Lewinsky tweeted.
“Screenshot this in case it’s not there tomorrow,” “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill wrote, adding a blue check mark emoji.
“Goodbye, blue check. I will pathetically seek validation from mere friends and loved ones,” wrote another Twitter user.
