Official line
Verification restructured under Twitter Blue / X Premium.
X (Twitter) · Social · Feature
Legacy verification
Discontinued
Feature
2009–2022 · 13 years in market
Launched
Jun 1, 2009
Discontinued
Nov 8, 2022
Cause of death
Strategic refocus
Evidence
Unsourced
What was it?
The blue check as a signal of identity, not payment. Retired when checks went on sale.
Why it died
Editorial reading
Selling the check converted a trust marker into a subscription badge. Impersonation followed.
Founder takeaway
If a symbol means ‘this is who it says,’ do not put it on a price list. Trust is not a SKU.
Sources
Unsourced — editorial reading
No primary source is attached yet. Treat the interpretation as editorial, not a citation.
What replaced it
X (Twitter)
X Premium
The paid check, with different meaning.
Related graves
Same company, category, or cause of death.
X (Twitter)
Feature
RIP
Twitter Moments
2015–2022 · 7 yrs
Curated story-packs of tweets. Editorial Twitter in an app that hates editors.
Media & Publishing/Strategic refocus+38
X (Twitter)
RIP
Revue
2021–2023 · 2 yrs
A newsletter tool Twitter bought to keep writers on-platform. Killed after the ownership change.
Media & Publishing/Strategic refocus+37
X (Twitter)
Feature
RIP
Twitter Alerts
2013–2022 · 9 yrs
A high-priority alert product for crisis and public-safety accounts. Faded as the civic-tech era ended.
Media & Publishing/Strategic refocus+34
X (Twitter)
RIP
Vine
2013–2017 · 4 yrs
Six-second looping video that minted a generation of comedians. Twitter killed it, then spent years watching TikTok do the job.
Video/Strategic refocus+22