Twitter’s legacy blue checkmark era is officially over

Twitter appears to have officially killed off its legacy blue checkmarks, one of the last remaining vestiges of the pre-Elon Musk owner era.

The legacy blue checks, which Twitter doled out to journalists, celebrities and other public officials for free to help curb impersonations and spam, were supposed to end April 1.

Musk took to Twitter on April 11 — days after the legacy checkmarks should have disappeared — to shift the end date to April 20 or 4/20. Yes, that’s the day when folks honor weed because Twitter is now owned by a middle schooler.

With the legacy checkmarks gone, Twitter will have verification marks only for paid users and businesses as well as government entities and officials. Now, if a user sees a blue checkmark and clicks on it, the label reads: “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

Some users, including TechCrunch reporters, experienced Thursday a “flickering” blue checkmark on their profiles. Others have seen their blue checkmarks disappear altogether.

Under Musk’s rule, Twitter hasn’t held back on its promise to remove the legacy checkmarks from even the highest of profiles figures. Even Pope Francis couldn’t escape the great unchecking of 4/20.