Twitter’s legacy blue check mark era is officially over

Twitter appears to have officially killed off its legacy blue check marks, one of the last remaining vestiges of the pre-Elon Musk 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 check marks 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 checks 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 check mark 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 check mark on their profiles. Others have seen their blue check marks disappear altogether.

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