For some weird, unnecessary reason, “verified” users—a.k.a. users who pay Elon Musk $8/month—can now hide the verified checkmark Musk fought so hard to provide to them on X, formerly known as Twitter (R.I.P.).
Following Musk’s acquisition of the platform last year, he had a hissy fit that people couldn’t get a verified checkmark unless there was an actual reason they should have one. In a tweet, he responded to actor William Shatner, who asked why checkmarks were disappearing from notable users who didn’t pay up, he explained that allowing people to pay nearly $10 for a silly little symbol to feel important was in the name of “equality.”
He said, “There shouldn’t be a different standard for celebrities IMO.”
He also shoved those paying users to the forefront of everyone’s feeds and replies, guaranteeing we’d all suddenly be flooded with nonsense from the kind of person willing to pay for Twitter visibility, rather than anything we actually wanted to read.
Now, though, you can buy a checkmark through X Blue and hide that checkmark, if you so wish. In an update on the X Blue page, the company explains, “As a subscriber, you can choose to hide your checkmark on your account. The checkmark will be hidden on your profile and posts.” This is probably because of the endless mockery of the horde of paid blue checkmarks, which has quickly made those who paid for it wish they could get the boosted reach without a mark of shame.
Of course, there’s a bit of a glitch, but then, when hasn’t there been since Musk brought the app for $44 billion and set about ruining it? “The checkmark may still appear in some places and some features could still reveal you have an active subscription. Some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden. We will continue to evolve this feature to make it better for you.”
However, this isn’t the first time that changes have been made to the malfunctioning system as Musk relaunched “Twitter Blue” at the end last year. The first attempt didn’t work, as people just brought the tick and decided to cause mischief with it, but after its relaunch, users must verify their phone numbers first. As if that would help …?
Not that I want to delve into the psyche of those who choose to spend the $8, but there is the possibility that they actually want to just have all of the other features that come with the checkmark, like the ability to write more than 250 characters per post, to edit posts after they’ve gone live, or even the simple perk of higher visibility. It seems they want visibility for everything except the fact that they paid for it.
