X will no longer allow users to hide their blue checks, regardless of whether they paid for premium or not. On Thursday, the app began notifying users that “the hide your checkmark feature of X Premium is going away soon.”
The change comes shortly after X unexpectedly began adding blue checks to the accounts of “influential” users with at least 2,500 followers who pay for a premium subscription. While Elon Musk suggested that change was meant to be a perk, some of his critics — including formerly verified users — were less than pleased with the blue badge appearing on their accounts, lest others suspect them of actually paying for a subscription.