Following his takeover of Twitter, perhaps the most controversial change Elon Musk made to the platform was the opening up of the coveted blue tick to all through the $8 Twitter Blue subscription. It didn’t take long for random users on the platform to start brandishing the checkmark on their profiles followed by a spate of impersonations of prominent personalities and brands. Soon, the blue tick almost completely lost its value and became just another commodity in the digital marketplace. It’s clear the blue tick isn’t what it used to be anymore – but users paying $8 for it haven’t exactly gotten fair treatment either. Right off the bat, Twitter Blue subscribers were getting the meme treatment from fellow tweeters, and months down the line, it’s yet to stop. Fortunately, Twitter seems to be putting an end to their misery. App reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has shared some screenshots that suggest Twitter is working on a new feature that will allow Blue subscribers to hide the blue check. The screenshots show a one-stop destination - or a dashboard - for controlling everything related to account verification and identity. Here, under the Verification section, is a new option labelled “Show or hide your blue checkmark on your profile.” Of course, this change may or may not make it to the stable version of Twitter – it could be an experiment for all we know. The platform has been experimenting with several features simultaneously and some of them even disappear. If and when this feature finally comes to the fore, it will allow Twitter Blue subscribers to continue paying billionaire Elon Musk, albeit more discreetly. The feature should be especially useful for users who only wish to enjoy benefits of Blue like edit tweet, folder bookmarks, themes, and custom icons – and not associate with the blue mark of shame. This development comes after an announcement on Friday from the microblogging platform about the removal of blue ticks for legacy verified accounts starting April 1.
