Twitter Blue to relaunch on 2nd December with gold, blue and grey checkmarks

Elon Musk confirmed on Friday that Twitter Blue will be relaunching on December 2, and it will have three types of colour-coded checkmarks to verify users’ identity. The platform will add a gold checkmark to accounts owned by companies, grey to accounts belonging to the government, and blue for individuals, irrespective of whether they are celebrities. These checkmarks will be activated once Twitter Blue launches after the identities of all account holders are verified by the company.

Responding to a Tweet talking about the delay in verification, Musk apologised for the delay and then explained the new colours that one’s Twitter account will sport. He also confirmed that there will be a tentative launch of Twitter Blue on 2nd December.

"Gold check for companies, grey check for government, blue for individuals (celebrity or not) and all verified accounts will be manually authenticated before the check activates. Painful, but necessary," Musk said in the tweet.

How will the checkmarks be different from what Twitter originally offered?

For starters, there will now be three different checkmarks. However, that isn’t the biggest change in this that you can expect. Earlier, checkmarks were awarded to verified celebrities to help users differentiate between the celebrity’s official account and fan-run account. In a sense, they had become a status symbol. Now, the checkmarks will be given to all users on a subscription basis. This means that a person with 9 followers and no claim to fame can also have a blue checkmark on their Twitter account. This subscription model is designed to help Twitter grow revenue. 

While the subscription is not mandatory, it is important to check whether accounts with blue checkmarks will receive higher reach and engagement as opposed to similar accounts with no checkmark. If this happens to be the case, anyone looking to be a creator on Twitter and grow their following may have to subscribe. 

Delays in the launch of Twitter Blue 

Twitter Blue was originally supposed to launch on 29th November but due to developmental delays, the launch was pushed without any indication of the launch date. 

"Holding off the relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation," Musk stated in a tweet. "Will probably use different colour check for organisations than individuals," he said.

As of the launch, everyone with a blue check might lose the same until their accounts are manually verified. The idea is to weed out fake accounts from the microblogging site, as these play the most significant role in the spread of fake news and hate.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page. 

Follow Us

Kajoli Anand Puri

Kajoli is a tech-enthusiast with a soft-spot for smart kitchen and home appliances. She loves exploring gadgets and gizmos that are designed to make life simpler, but also secretly fears a world run by AI. Oh wait, we’re already there. View Full Profile