The latest development in the verification badge saga involves a new option that allows subscribers to hide X checkmarks.
First, Twitter trashed the blue checkmarks for those whose identity had been verified. It then required people to subscribe to Twitter blue to keep the badge. Now, the app that changed its name is allowing subscribers to hide their X checkmarks. That’s according to a report from The Verge.
Well, I’ll chime right in with an obvious question…
Why would anyone want to hide the check they’re now paying for?
The original checkmarks had value. Twitter went through a process to verify the authenticity of the user who had them. Some cried sour grapes because they couldn’t get checkmarks of their own. But Twitter had its own rules for who could get them. Not just anyone could, after all.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he announced he’d do away with them. Instead, anyone who subscribed to Twitter Blue could get the check. That right there eliminated the value of the checkmarks. If you could buy one, they meant nothing. They weren’t a status symbol if you had the same checkmark anyone else willing to pay for it could have.
For a brief while, hovering over a check on someone’s profile would show whether the checkmark was an original verified mark or a result of subscribing to Twitter Blue.
They did away with the last of the legacy badges, which then meant all of them were subscription.
So now that Twitter is now X and those Twitter checkmarks are now X checkmarks, we come to word that there’s an option to hide the badge.
If the checkmark was so important to them that they were willing to subscribe to Twitter Blue for $7-8 a month, why would they not want the check to show up on their profile?
Maybe there are enough people out there who didn’t subscribe over their checkmark. But if the checkmark is now a perk of subscribing, that means X thinks that’s a plus. Clearly, some of its customers don’t agree with that valuation.
I don’t, either, for the record.
But wait, there’s a catch
The Verge article pointed to X Blue Support article about the X checkmarks. While it states you subscribers can hide their blue badge on your profile and posts, it then adds this:
The checkmark may still appear in some places and some features could still reveal you have an active subscription. Some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden.
X Blue Support
The article promises that X will “continue to evolve this feature” to improve it.
Maybe they should have allowed time for a little more “evolution” before rolling out that option to begin with. If the blue badge “may still appear,” even after you hide it, it isn’t really hidden. And if features X Blue subscribers pay for “may not be available” if you hide your check, then that shoots down some value with X Blue, doesn’t it?
You can’t make this stuff up.
