Twitter begins to remove blue check marks

Twitter has begun purging blue verification checkmarks from users who have not paid for its subscription service to authenticate accounts.

Twitter's owner Elon Musk says people who fear other users will impersonate them need to pay an $8 a month verification fee by joining Twitter Blue.

Some folks including well-known journalists, celebrities, and other high-profile people have balked at the idea of paying a monthly fee and now Musk is removing their blue check marks.

The initial rollout of the change appeared to be fairly glitchy, as blue checks disappeared and reappeared on some accounts. Some other high-profile legacy verified accounts also didn’t seem to lose their checks, at least at first.

Musk says his decision is a way to treat everyone equally.

Although, the change does threaten to create an even greater risk of impersonation of high-profile users and confusion over the veracity of information on the platform.