Two checkmarks blue, grey and Musk’s ‘sink-in’ new meaning for verified 

On Thursday afternoon around 4pm Twitter user Marques Brownlee spotted what appeared to be a glitch on Twitter.

The user quickly flagged the issue after he saw two check marks on his profile.

The user tweeted: “So now there’s two verified checks. One that shows next to your profile in replies, in retweets, and everywhere else: It means you’re a Twitter Blue subscriber.

The other one (“Official”) only shows up on certain profiles and on timeline……”

This sparked massive debate on the Twitter platform with users confused as to what exactly new Twitter boss Elon Musk was up to.

The user has updated his status to mention that the issue has been rectified but what exactly did that mean?

We probed and here are the latest changes from Twitter since Thursday 9 November 2022.

 

We know a blue checkmark from Twitter lets people know that your account is of public interest and is authentic.

Since Musk took over a couple of weeks ago, things are changing, and they’re changing at a rapid pace.

Blue tick

The definition of the blue check mark according to Twitter is changing.

Previously the platform used the blue check mark to indicate authentic accounts after users had verified certain requirements.

Today the tick may mean two things.

Either an account was verified under the previous verification criteria (authentic user or active user) or the account has an active subscription to Twitter’s new Twitter Blue subscription service which has been enabled since Thursday November 9, 2022.

“Accounts that receive the blue checkmark as part of a Twitter Blue subscription will not undergo review to confirm that they meet the active, notable and authentic criteria that was used in the previous process,” Twitter wrote confirming the shift for subscription.

Changing display names will be temporarily restricted on verified accounts.

“This will impact accounts Verified under the legacy program and Twitter’s new Twitter Blue subscription product.”

Accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue on iOS on or after November 9 2022 are eligible for the blue checkmark.

The platform will no longer be accepting new applications for verification under the old criteria.

All accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue on iOS after November 9 will automatically receive a blue mark which will last for as long as users are subscribed.

Violate any of Twitter blue’s policies and the platform reserves the right to take away user blue ticks.

“The Official profile label is applied to government accounts (institutional accounts, elected or appointed officials, and multilateral organizations)*, certain political organizations such as political parties, commercial companies including business partners, major brands, media outlets and publishers, and some other public figures.

“*State-affiliated media and government accounts that play a role as a geopolitical or official Government communication channel display a unique label.”

Grey tick

On the blue ticks debut this week, Musk killed the new gray verification badge designed to label government accounts, major brands and media outlets.

The grey tick which came with the word: “official” was introduced to differentiate identity verified accounts from the blue checkmarks that Twitter said to would offer only to subscribers.

While the tick was rolled out on Wednesday morning, users pick up that it has disappeared.

“I just killed it,” Musk tweeted in response.

This added on to the already tense possibly chaotic atmosphere that users feel Musk brings.

The quick changes may be steppes being taken to possibly put Twitter behind a paywall as Musk continues to shed bots, and clean the platform to be the global town square he envisions.

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