For the 10,000 firms with the most followers on Twitter, the $1,000 checkmark will be free.

Image Credit: FB It appears that certain businesses would not be required to pay Twitter $1,000 each month in order to keep their verified status and checkmarks. According to a story from The New York Times, Twitter is providing free access to the top 10,000 organizations by follower count as well as the 500 marketers who spend the most money using the platform. The choice is being made as Twitter is ready to make significant adjustments to the way verification functions on the platform. The old verified program will reportedly begin to be phased out in April, and plans for Twitter Verification for Companies have been made public. With the latter, businesses that are prepared to spend $1,000 a month can keep their verification and designate particular accounts as "linked." A journalistic organization like The Verge, for instance, might confirm the journalists who work there, demonstrating that the person requesting an interview actually works there. Brands may potentially use it to authenticate related accounts; Twitter already does this with its Twitter Support and Twitter Blue accounts (though, to be clear, Vox Media presently has no intentions to do this). Businesses who don't receive the free pass risk accruing significant Twitter costs. But, such functionality is not inexpensive. You must pay an additional $50 per month for each associated account in addition to the $1,000 monthly fee for Verification for Organizations. The cost can quickly rise. Image Credit: TJT Twitter may prevent the sharp price increase in verification from having a significant negative impact on the Twitter community by making at least a portion of that package available for free to advertisers and groups with large followings. Those who use the service as a source of news want to be sure that the information is coming from a verified account, and it appears like many of the main players won't be losing their checkmarks, even if they don't want to pay Twitter $12,000 a year. It is also unmistakably an outreach to advertisers, with whom Twitter has recently had tense ties. When Elon Musk took over, Twitter's ad revenue has reportedly plummeted dramatically as a result of large advertising agencies warning their clients to be careful of it. For many advertisers, a $1,000 monthly charge might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but if Twitter is offering it for free, they won't have to make that choice. However, it might make it more difficult for new businesses to grow an audience on the platform because they'll either have to compete with verified brands when they aren't or pay the $1,000 a month to obtain the checkmark, too. Image Credit: GBR The flood of bogus accounts that appeared after the initial introduction of Twitter Blue verification, which allowed users to purchase a blue checkmark, shown that brands are among the most susceptible to impersonation. In order to prevent it from happening again, Twitter has put certain safeguards in place. Whenever you change your profile image, display name, or @ handle, you'll temporarily lose the checkmark while Twitter analyzes your profile to make sure you aren't infringing its impersonation rules. Read More: Meta Releases New Account Verification Subscription Bundle Impersonators and other bad actors will undoubtedly test those safety systems as Twitter gets ready to remove the "legacy" checkmarks of both individuals and institutions until they start paying for Blue or Verification for Organizations. Several persons, like The New York Times, the White House, or LeBron James, have checkmarks next to their names that are either blue or gold in color. There is a chance that pranksters and scammers could create an account that, at first appearance, appears to be more authentic than the actual one if they decide against paying for a checkmark. But it sounds like that won't be a big deal for the businesses that Twitter is specifically interested in preserving.