Elon Musk-owned Twitter Inc. recently rolled out the new revamped Twitter Blue subscription plan for $7.99 per month for iOS users in select countries.
The availability of Twitter Blue with verification is currently available on iOS in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
In this plan, any user subscribing to the Twitter Blue subscription will get a blue checkmark or verification badge for their accounts for a monthly fee.
However, this decision led to a widespread debate on the platform, as there was no clarity as to what would happen to the current Twitter Blue subscribers.
The microblogging platform has now addressed this shortcoming by rolling out another type of “Official” checkmark, which will help users distinguish between Twitter Blue accounts and verified accounts.
Esther Crawford, Twitter’s Director of Product Management, tweeted that the company is rolling out a new “Official” label for government and select business accounts, which will not be available for purchase.
A lot of folks have asked about how you'll be able to distinguish between @TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we’re introducing the “Official" label to select accounts when we launch. pic.twitter.com/0p2Ae5nWpO
— Esther Crawford ? (@esthercrawford) November 8, 2022
Accounts that will receive the official label include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers, and some public figures. Further, accounts eligible for the new official label will get a separate grey checkmark in addition to the standard blue tick.
In addition, the checkmark will not be available to everyone who has paid for Twitter Blue, and not all previously verified accounts will get the official label, confirmed Crawford.
According to Crawford, Twitter Blue subscribers will get a blue check badge next to their account name, while select accounts will get a new gray ‘official’ badge beneath their usernames on their profile.
She also added that the new pay-for-blue-tick verification system of Twitter does not include ID verification.
“The new Twitter Blue does not include ID verification — it’s an opt-in, paid subscription that offers a blue checkmark and access to select features,” Crawford wrote in the Twitter thread.
She also added that the company will continue to “experiment with ways to differentiate between account types.”
