It’s the end of an era on Twitter as Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Funke Akindele, Tony Elumelu, and many other celebrities lose their Twitter verification.
Accounts with verified blue check marks had been awarded the badges by the company’s previous leadership to identify accounts belonging to public organizations and high-profile users.
The platform had initially said it would wind down the system on April 1. But the date passed and nothing happened. Then, last week, CEO Elon Musk announced a new date of April 20.
As of early Thursday afternoon, celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Kim Kardashian also lost their check marks.
Prominent TV personalities such as CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow lost theirs, as well.
Public figures relating to all sectors of society, from Bill Gates to Pope Francis, also lost their checks.
Congressional representatives appear to still have the gray government check mark on their official accounts, while some — such as Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. — have lost verification on their personal accounts. Others, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., still have the blue checks on their personal accounts.
As the removal process was underway Thursday, some users reported confusing glitches — they saw their blue check marks disappear, then reappear, only to disappear once again.
But most users whose check marks were removed were ready to say goodbye.
Actor Halle Berry posted a meme to commemorate the loss of her check mark.
“#BlueCheckMark,” “Twitter Blue” and “Verified” trended on the platform in the U.S., with new tweets cropping up nearly every minute.
Tony Elumelu still in shock wrote: “Woke up to see that my verification tick has disappeared. Wahala!
Nigerian super actress Funke Akindele wrote: “Ha!! Blue Tick!! O ma se o!! Oju a tun ra ri.”
“Elon Musk is a BUSINESS MAN Period!” Peter Okoye wrote on his page.
Twitter now describes verified accounts as “verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” But as some legacy verified profiles continue to hold on to their check marks, the new language has prompted speculation that some celebrities have paid for Twitter Blue.
Some who have noticed the change on their profiles, including author Stephen King, have begun to tweet disclaimers stating that they did not, in fact, pay to keep their badges.
In a response to a tweet that reported “some celebrities have been offered a complimentary Twitter Blue subscription on behalf of Musk,” the CEO responded that he’s “paying for a few personally.”
As of Thursday evening, previously verified accounts still appear in search results that specify “filter: verified.”
The removal of the check marks is the latest step by Musk to remake Twitter since he bought it in October for $44 billion, casting himself as the steward of an essential public forum while driving off some of the well-known people who used it.
The move has already prompted fears that Twitter users will have one less tool to distinguish known sources from impersonators or hoaxes.
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