For weeks, Twitter has been promising that it would be ending its “legacy” verification programme – the one that actually verifies users – and stripping the status from any user who didn’t pay.
Although the cut-off for the switchover was 1 April, the company didn’t seem to be joking. “We will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks,” it posted on its official channels. “To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue.”