Elon Musk unveils major plans for Twitter unverified accounts, to take effect on April 15

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday announced that only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations and also revealed the reason behind it.

Musk`s tweet stated, "Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations. The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.

According to him, this is the only realistic way to advance AI bot swarms taking over.And for the same reason, voting in polls requires verifications. This new plan will start from April 15 onwards. Recently, Twitter announced that it will be doing away with the blue ticks for legacy verified accounts starting April 1.

The microblogging site will remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as notable before Elon Musk`s takeover unless they have subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan, Variety reported.

The only individual Twitter users who will have verified blue check-marks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which in the US costs USD 8/month via the web and USD 11/month through in-app payment on iOS and Android.

Earlier, the company also announced that Twitter Blue was now available worldwide.

"On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue, "Twitter posted from its official handle. 

Twitter, however, has not revealed how it will deal with the accounts of people who have "notable" mentioned on it.

For companies and brands, Twitter recently introduced a gold check-mark and has shifted government accounts to a gray check-mark. As previously indicated, a subscription to the social network`s new Twitter Verified Organizations program in the US -- which will be the only way to keep a gold or grey check-mark badge -- will cost USD 1,000/month (plus tax) and USD 50/month (plus tax) for each additional affiliate subaccount.

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Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.

The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.

Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023

Twitter first introduced verified accounts in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations and other accounts "of public interest" were genuine and not impostor or parody accounts. The company didn`t previously charge for verification.

Musk launched Twitter Blue with the check-mark badge as one of the premium perks within two weeks of the company`s takeover.