But as soon as the new checkmark was unveiled, it was gone. Perhaps Twitter realized early on that it was a chore to decide who got a check and who didn’t. Hours after it began, all publications and people were stripped of their “official” badges. Apparently, Elon Musk himself made the call.

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It’s official: Twitter creates a new tick so it can still charge for blue

Popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee tweeted that his “official” badge was gone more than an hour after he tweeted it.

“I just killed it,” Musk replied, later adding, “Blue Check would be the great leveler.”

So it seems that Musk is perhaps re-committing to the idea that a purchased blue tick — which doesn’t require actual verification of identity — will carry the same weight as verification from a government official or major publication.

Shortly after rolling out the “official” badge, Musk tweeted: “Please note that Twitter will be doing a lot of silly things over the coming months. We’ll keep what works and change what doesn’t.”

Well then, then we can expect more dumb stuff.