The Twitter Blue subscription – which turned the social media platform into a theme park for trolls, pranksters, and scammers – is no longer available in the iOS app. (It was never available in the Android one.) Additionally, some of those who paid for the subscription report that their blue checkmark is gone.
It’s unclear at present whether this is as a result of the company’s latest policy U-turn, or a system that has fallen over after half the company’s staff were laid off …
Twitter Blue subscription unavailable
The Verge spotted reports, and on checking my account, I get the same error message when selecting Twitter Blue from the profile menu.
Twitter users are reporting that the option to sign up for the company’s new $7.99 subscription service, Twitter Blue, has disappeared from the platform’s iOS app just days after the service launched.
You could previously subscribe to Twitter Blue from the sidebar in the iOS app (the service has yet to launch for Android users), but users this morning reported that the option has disappeared. For those for whom the link is still available, trying to sign up only returns an error message. “Thank you for your interest!” it reads. “Twitter Blue will be available in your country in the future. Please check back later.”
Reverse engineering magician Jane Manchun Wong found that the signup API is no longer available.
Twitter seems to have unlaunched the new $7.99 Twitter Blue subscription
Checked with Twitter’s API and the in-app purchase for Twitter Blue Verified is no longer listed for production
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) November 11, 2022
Some of those who paid for Twitter Blue are reporting that their blue checkmark has disappeared from their account.
Another policy U-turn, or a system failure?
It’s as yet unclear whether this is just the latest policy U-turn, after Musk warned employees that the company might face bankruptcy, or a system failure due to the loss of so many engineers and other staff.
This IS an A/B test. And the B stands for bankruptcy.
— Shaq Kalaka (@PrivacyAttorney) November 11, 2022
Gray Official checkmark back
The gray Official checkmark that Twitter introduced as a new form of account verification also appears to be back.
Twitter previously introduced the gray badge as a solution to the problem it created by putting the blue badge up for sale. Musk then announced that he’d killed it, which seemed to come as news to the company exec who announced it. Now it appears to be back, though who knows for how long.
Update: The return of the Official badge is, uh, official.
We’re not currently putting an “Official” label on accounts but we are aggressively going after impersonation and deception.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 9, 2022
Er, we mean:
To combat impersonation, we’ve added an “Official” label to some accounts.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 11, 2022
Just another normal day in Musk-era Twitter.
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