At last, Elon Musk’s culling of legacy verified accounts on Twitter might finally be getting underway.
The site’s “Twitter Verified” feed, which historically has followed all verified accounts (before the launch of Twitter Blue) began a mass unfollowing Thursday afternoon.
It’s making fast work of it, too. At 3:40 p.m. ET, the account was following 224,300 accounts. By 4:25 p.m. ET, that number was down to 95,000. And at 5:00 p.m. ET, it was only following 41. (Update: As of 6:00 p.m. ET, the account was not following anyone.)
It is not clear whether Twitter Verified also follows people who pay the $8 per month for the blue checkmark. If so, the mass unfollowing could give some insight into how many people are paying for that feature.
Twitter had warned Legacy verified accounts that on April 1 it would begin winding down the program and removing checkmarks for those who still had them but were not paying for a Twitter Blue subscription. That day came and went without any noticeable reduction in verified accounts, however.
Nor was there any significant shift in the following days, other than a rework of the messaging around the blue checkmark, which now reads, “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account,” instead of having separate messages for Twitter Blue and legacy subscribers.
But the unfollowing by the Twitter Verified account could be a sign that the change is underway.
There are an estimated 420,000 legacy verified accounts, according to Mashable. And as of April 3, less than 3% of those had elected to subscribe to Twitter Blue.
Twitter’s vow to “wind down” the legacy verified program has brought about a flood of criticism from users as well as celebrities and brands who relied on the blue checkmark to assure fans they were dealing with the authentic source and not being gaslit.
Some have pondered if a Blue check will, in fact, become a mark of shame on Twitter, as it is less a mark of authenticity and more a sign that the user is either a Musk devotee or hopes to take advantage of some of the benefits that come with Twitter Blue, such as longer character limits and the ability to edit Tweets.
Update, April 6, 2023: This story as been updated as Twitter’s account has unfollowed more users.
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