Twitter's verified user program faces shifts and criticism

Twitter's handling of its verified user program has faced a series of developments and criticisms over the past few days. Last week, Twitter announced it would begin winding down its legacy verified program starting from April 1st. However, the announcement was limited to specific cases, including one pointed out by CEO Elon Musk.

Over the weekend, a new report revealed that around 10,000 top-followed sites and 500 leading advertisers would retain their verified status without subscribing to Twitter Blue, the platform's subscription service. This contradicts the previous announcement of winding down the legacy program.

Moreover, Twitter's recent decision to display the same status for both legacy verified and Twitter Blue subscribers has made it difficult to differentiate between the two. Verified legacy users were anticipating losing their white-on-blue checkmarks, but this hasn't happened for most, reportedly because un-verifying users is a time-consuming manual process. Musk commented on the situation via Twitter, stating that legacy users would be given "a few weeks grace."

However, The New York Times lost its verified badge after it refused to subscribe to Twitter Blue, which led to Musk labeling the site as "propaganda." The Times reported on the situation and confirmed that 10,000 top-followed sites and 500 leading advertisers would keep their verified badges. The company also emphasized that they would not pay for a subscription, following the tweets of prominent figures like LeBron James and The White House.

Overall, Twitter's handling of its verified user program has faced criticism and scrutiny from its users. The company's recent decisions have led to confusion and controversy, and many are left wondering what the future holds for Twitter's verified program.