A number of changes are coming to Twitter from next month.
The social media platform has already seen some shake-ups after Tesla billionaire Elon Musk brought the site, some of which have been met with backlash.
The Twitter chief has announced a fresh batch of changes that will be coming to the site in April including a rejig to how certain features work and who can access others.
A number of features are set to be taken away from those who are not verified users – so your timeline will work very differently if you’re not paying to use the site.
But what changes can we expect to Twitter next month?
Here is what you need to know:
Only verified users to vote in polls
To vote in polls on Twitter, you will need to be a verified account.
Musk previously announced that Twitter will allow its users to vote on all major policy changes going forward.
It came after the platform’s decision to ban links to other social media platforms was met with backlash.
The For You page will be restricted
Musk announced on Monday that only tweets from verified accounts will show up on the platform’s curated For You page from next month.
The change, which will come into place from April 15, is the ‘only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over,’ the Twitter Chief said in a post on the site.
At present, the For You page is the default timeline that appears to Twitter users unless the manually switch to the following tab.
Verified bot accounts
Despite wanting to tackle ‘AI bot swams’, Musk has said verified bot accounts will be allowed on Twitter.
He said bots will be allowed on the platform so long as they follow the terms of service and do not impersonate humans, though he did not say if these accounts will appear on the For You page.
Verified badges to be removed from legacy users
From April 1, legacy users will have their verified badges removed leaving only Twitter Blue users with a blue tick.
The blue tick was a system intended to communicate the authenticity of a Twitter account, such as a celebrity or an organization, to protect them against parody or troll accounts.
A Twitter Blue subscription costs £8 per month in the UK on the monthly plan, or £7 per month on the annual plan.
According to a report by Information, only 290,000 accounts pay for Twitter Blue as of February.
Twitter Blue subscribers can hide their badge
Though it has not yet been confirmed, it appears that Twitter Blue subscribers may be able to hide their verified status in the future.
Twitter Blue users have been mocked since the rollout of the subscription service by both legacy verified users and non-verified accounts.
According to a screenshot leaked by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, Twitter is reportedly testing the ability for Twitter Blue users to ‘show or hide the blue checkmark’
The option looks like it will be available in the verification settings for Twitter Blue users.
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