SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter on Thursday began removing checkmarks from the profiles of thousands of celebrities, politicians and journalists, in one of the most visible indicators of how Elon Musk is transforming the company.
For years, a check mark meant that Twitter had verified the identity of the user behind an account, and the icon was considered a status symbol of sorts. But under Mr. Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, the social media service has started charging individuals $8 a month to maintain their verification status. Mr Musk has said those who don’t pay will lose their ticks.
The transition has been rocky. Mr. Musk initially suggested charging $20 per month for verification, but he lowered the price after backlash. He also said previously verified accounts would lose their badges in early April, but few did.
When Twitter started removing checkmarks from accounts on Thursday, some users said they noticed the symbols disappearing and then reappearing on their profiles.
“We are removing obsolete verified checkmarks,” the company said in a statement on Twitter. “To stay verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue.”
Paying the subscription fee will bring other benefits, Musk said, including more prominent placement in conversations on Twitter.
But some celebrities have complained that the change will lead to more impersonation, as their identities will no longer be confirmed. In November, a checkmark imposter account impersonated the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and tweeted that it would provide free insulin to its customers, causing Eli Lilly’s stock to plummet.
“If you have a blue check mark right now, it means you are more likely to be a complete loser and you are desperate for validation from famous people,” says the musician Doja Cat. tweeted this month after losing her verification badge.
Some celebrities said they would leave Twitter altogether, while others shrugged off the change but refused to pay.
“Cub, guess my blue ✔ will be gone soon because if you know me, I’m not paying,” basketball star LeBron James said in a tweet last month. But Mr. James turned out to be a Twitter Blue subscriber on Thursday, and his account kept the check mark. Musk said on Twitter that he had personally paid for a few bills to keep their check marks, including Mr. James’s.
Aside from charging individual users $8 per month, Twitter planned to charge organizations $1,000 monthly for gold check verification, with a few exceptions, according to internal documents accessed by The New York Times. The exceptions were set for Twitter’s top 500 advertisers and the 10,000 most followed organizations previously verified.
