Twitter Blue users paying $8 to stay verified hit by '#BlockTheBlue' campaign
- On Thursday, Twitter accounts with legacy verification began losing their blue checkmarks.
- Users must now pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue if they want to remain verified.
- As blue checks disappeared, a "Block the Blue" campaign is targeting those paying for Twitter Blue.
Twitter users are dissing the remaining verified accounts after legacy blue checkmarks finally started disappearing Thursday.
Twitter has undergone a series of changes since Elon Musk took over in October, and its latest move took away blue checkmarks from public figures who chose not to pay $8 a month for Twitter Blue.
As the blue badges began to disappear, users campaigned to block and ignore those who pay up to keep their checkmark. A @BlockTheBlue Twitter account was created, and swiftly suspended, while a hashtag of the same name has been trending.
—Twitter Verified (@verified) April 19, 2023
"Tomorrow is shaping up to be quite the day," Musk tweeted ahead of the change.
Reactions to the new policy didn't disappoint. The memes and criticism of Twitter Blue users are rolling in as more move to block anyone with a blue checkmark next to their name.
—Craig Williams (@Craigination) April 21, 2023
Although Musk has yet to comment on the trending hashtag meant to undermine Twitter's new verification system, the CEO liked a tweet from Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney condemning the campaign.
Sweeney compared participants in #BlockTheBlue to "losers and goons" and criticized Twitter's "elite-only verification system" in the statement liked by Musk.
Many "Block the Blue" online activists encouraged others to find verified accounts to block by scrolling through the replies of any tweet made by Musk, and pointing out that it's made easier by the new policy that puts verified responses at the top of threads.
Musk faced similar backlash in November after rolling out Twitter Blue's paid-for verification feature. The move sparked a slew of impersonation accounts and crude jokes as some took advantage of the $8 blue checkmark.