Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter, there have been a lot of changes, a few of which people liked, others not so much. One perfect example is the case of the Twitter verified checkmark.

Twitter verified checkmark

Before Elon Musk’s takeover, that blue checkmark beside a user’s display name simply indicated that they are a verified account. This means that they’re legit and they went through a whole verification process and everything. The verified checkmark is usually given to government officials and institutions, media accounts and journalists, brands, celebrities, and other prominent personalities/groups who might be susceptible to being impersonated.

After Musk bought Twitter, he jumbled things around and started to allow other users to have access to that verified checkmark. Twitter users who join the app’s paid subscription service, Twitter Blue, get a special badge that indicates their part of the said program — except instead of making an all-new badge, he just decided to use the same checkmark that indicates a verified account. Instead, a new “Official” label has been added under the username of an account verified as official.

A lot of folks have asked about how you’ll be able to distinguish between @TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the “Official” label to select accounts when we launch. pic.twitter.com/0p2Ae5nWpO

— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022

Ergo, users can simply pay Twitter $8 to look extra special on Twitter with a verified badge. And a lot of users who aren’t as up-to-date with the changes are ending up confused.

Mass confusion

Why the confusion? Even though Twitter Blue was supposed to properly verify the accounts paying for a badge, the verification process was clearly lacking. Some Twitter users managed to get badges for fake accounts, then proceeded to tweet something outrageous and/or scandalous. And since they have a checkmark beside their name, many users ended up confused due to the new change.

the new Twitter verification system is going well 🫠 pic.twitter.com/7eH2H7o24W

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 9, 2022

Twitter has peaked. pic.twitter.com/VBPnQsNOwh

— Dyylas (@DylanDyylas) November 12, 2022

A solution?

fun fact: these Twitter Blue checkmarks are, more or less, fake!

they are under a separate property called “is_blue_verified” while “verified” (under a legacy key for whatever reason) is false pic.twitter.com/USB7AuKKOQ

— † lucia scarlet 🩸 (@shadowbIood) November 9, 2022

Frustrated with the changes, Twitter user @shadowblood dove into the Twitter website’s code and discovered that the new Twitter Blue checkmarks “are, more or less, fake.” According to the JavaScript code, there is a “is_blue_verified” line for Twitter Blue subscribers, and a “verified” line for the accounts traditionally verified. This means your web browser knows the difference between the old verified accounts and the new Blue verified ones.

Hence, a quick installation of an extension can replace the badge for Blue-verified users. Twitter users have banded together and did the work for you with her extension, which turns the Twitter Blue verified checkmarks into, well, a nerd emoji. You just need to install a userscript browser extension (e.g. ViolentMonkey) to be able to import it.

https://t.co/0MOcfXeSja
i used violentmonkey and it seems to work everywhere
made in about 15 minutes don’t judge the code please lol i went straightforward
(cc @Quinten0508)

— feels like falling (@chaoticvibing) November 9, 2022

Twitter Blue on pause?

Following the slew of impersonations on the social media site, Twitter is allegedly pulling the break on the paid services of Twitter Blue, especially when it comes to the Twitter Blue checkmark. However, only new users will be unable to use the feature, as those existing subscribers can have access to other Blue features.

The announcement was posted on Slack: “An update on what we did tonight: hid the entry point to Twitter Blue, added the ‘official’ label for ONLY advertisers. Note: here is at least one way for users to sign up for Blue. Legacy Blue users can go to subscriptions and upgrade” 2/

— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) November 11, 2022

There has been no official announcement on when the feature will come back for new Blue subscribers — if at all.

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