Starting April 1, Twitter will begin to remove ‘legacy’ blue check marks which were previously a free feature for users as a means of verification of real accounts for noted personalities, companies and celebrities.

The move, which was announced via Twitter’s official account last week, is the latest tactic by the Elon Musk run company. Users are now being forced to conform to a subscriber based service, known as Twitter Blue, which gives subscribers verified checkmarks as a perk.

Twitter blue was launched in 2022, as a means of generating money for the social media platform and has been among the more controversial moves by the company under Musk’s tenure.

Notably, in order to get a blue checkmark, you will have to meet Twitter’s eligibility criteria which includes having a display name and profile photo, in addition to having an account that’s older than 90 days (3 months). Also, that account must have shown no signs of being misleading or deceptive.

Users who already have the checkmark were previously allowed to keep it even after Twitter Blue (re)launched, but the company reconsidered and decided that it will be taken away at some point in the future.

In addition to the removal of non-sub-based checkmarks, only tweets with verified checks will appear in your “for you feed” as of April 15 says Musk.

Meta, also recently announced that it would begin offering a similar subscriber-based service for users who wanted to be verified on its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.

However, the main sticking point of its planned launch is that, users who already have verified accounts will be able to retain their blue tick temporarily.