'4/20': Elon Musk sets final date for removing Twitter legacy blue checks

Twitter owner Elon Musk early Wednesday (April 12) set a final date for removing legacy blue checks from Twitter accounts verified under the social media giant's previous regime. "Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20," Musk tweeted. This means that if users have a legacy verified account on Twitter with a blue mark, they will have to pay now to keep the checkmark. The only accounts that will keep their blue checkmarks are those subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Twitter Blue is priced differently for every region and based on how users sign up.

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Previously, Twitter had announced that starting April 1, it would begin removing the blue check-mark badges from legacy verified accounts- those which the social media giant previously deemed to be notable and/or authentic- unless users have signed up for the Twitter Blue subscription service.

And the next day (April 2), Twitter changed the language in the description of verified users to read, "This account is verified because it`s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account" -- which means you cannot tell who is paying for a blue check-mark and who is not.

Musk's deadline for removing legacy blue checks comes as a forecast on Tuesday said that Twitter's income from advertising would fall by 28 per cent this year. According to a report by the news agency AFP, analysts at Insider Intelligence said they were slashing an earlier worldwide revenue estimate of $4.74 billion by more than a third to $2.98 billion as trust in the social media giant deteriorated.

Jasmine Enberg, the principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, said that the biggest problem with Twitter's ad business was that advertisers don't trust Musk. "Twitter needs to unravel Musk's personal brand from the company's corporate image to regain advertiser trust and bring back ad dollars," Enberg said.

Insider Intelligence also pointed out that Musk's efforts to build up a subscription service "won't make up for the lost ad revenue."

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