If you’re wondering why Twitter needed to establish the badges in the first place, it’s because the company’s new CEO had the brilliant notion to charge users $8 each month to support their official verification system. The abrupt change comes after customers complained that the free alternative to the conventional blue verified symbol was confusing, redundant, and superfluous. Musk claimed in an audio session with advertisers through “Twitter Spaces” that the “official” badge was “just another method of establishing a two-class system” and “wasn’t solving the main problem.” “Please keep in mind that Twitter will do a lot of silly things in the next months,” Musk stated in a tweet. “We’ll preserve what works and discard what doesn’t.” Blue checks were originally used to verify the identities of government officials, lawmakers, celebrities, some journalists, CEOs, medical experts, and organizations whose identities had been validated by the corporation. Musk has reaped the benefits of having the Twitter verification check mark. As of today, the “Official” badge appears to have been fully removed from Twitter. It’s absent from the profiles of government figures including as President Joe Biden.