Some users on X (formerly Twitter) began to notice last night that their profiles had been granted a blue verified checkmark, even without paying for the premium subscription. Following the initial confusion, there was a message shared that stated the following:
As an influential member of the community on X, we"ve given you a complimentary subscription to X Premium subject to X Premium Terms by selecting this notice.
This is the note they sent me pic.twitter.com/tXffJnBLqd
— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) April 4, 2024
Elon Musk then clarified this further in a post, which provided the remaining detail on this, that any account with over 2,500 verified (Premium or Premium+ subscribed users) followers would get Premium features for free, while users with over 5,000 would get the Premium+ tier for zero cost.
based on all the confused tweets i’m seeing, it looks like Twitter / X is starting to really ramp up the roll out of this now
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) April 3, 2024
if you suddenly have a blue checkmark even though you’re not paying for one, this is why: pic.twitter.com/T1XaBEeGgn
The Premium+ tier, which launched back in October 2023 alongside a Basic subscription, gives users the ability to remove ads from the platform and boosts posts the most in replies for these paying users alongside the already existing tools from the lower tiers, such as editing posts, a verified checkmark, and writing longer posts.
Shit. I"ve been forcibly bluechecked.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) April 3, 2024
How do I opt out?
Recent events have begun to lead journalists and other news outlets to question the effectiveness of posting on the X platform, given the boosting of paid users rather than genuinely useful or relevant content. Many believe this makes finding information on the platform much more challenging. Some users who have been granted the check have even begun to question whether they can disable it.
Source: The Verge