Twitter bug allows formerly verified users to bring back blue check free of charge

Last month Elon Musk called time on what he has been calling "legacy verified users," meaning anyone that wanted a blue check mark on their account would have to subscribe to Twitter Blue and pay $8 a month for the pleasure.

The uptake hasn't exactly been overwhelming, with TechCrunch reporting that the relaunched subscription service made just $11M on mobile in its first 3 months. Many celebrities remain unverified, too. Some, including LeBron James and Stephen King, were given verified status on behalf of Musk himself. Something that left many confused and promising their followers they didn't do themselves.

If the stigma of having a blue check mark next to your name isn't too off-putting, however, Twitter user Ali Segel has revealed a hack that, at the time of writing, returns the badge to formerly verified legacy users free of cost.

As a person whose job here at The FADER is, as Twitter used to see it, "notable in government, news, entertainment, or another designated category" I had a verified account until last month. Hilariously, adding "former blue check" to my bio today brings the blue check back. See below for evidence. I solemnly swear I did not pay $8 to make these screenshots.

Twitter users who were unverified in the past can't get the badge on their profile but it does appear that anyone who lost their check mark last month can bring it back by adding those three words to their bio. Who'd have thought that laying off hundreds of engineers would lead to weird things happening on your website?

Reached for comment by The FADER, Twitter’s press email replied with the poop emoji, an auto-reply put in place shortly after Musk's takeover.