X is handing out blue checks to people with more than 2,500 Premium Followers

Last night, several well-known journalists and others release (complaining in many cases) about the unexpected return of verified blue checks on Elon Musk’s X platform. One of them, Peter Kafka, shared a message from X indicating that the upgrade was no accident.

“As an influential member of the X community, we are offering you a free subscription to X Premium by opting into this notification in accordance with the X Premium terms,” ​​it noted.

A subsequent tweet from Get the ad-free Premium+ tier. free.

Previously, the only users who received free premium blue checks were those with a large number of followers (at least in the million range), as well as celebrities and corporate/media companies. The new initiative appears to be a way to attract influential users (mainly journalists) with smaller following numbers to join.

So what prompted this? X may have decided that more reporters with blue checks are needed. In the wake of recent events (Taiwan earthquake, Turkish election, Baltimore bridge collapse), some users have complained that X is no longer the gold standard breaking news platform that Twitter is.

This may be because reporters who find or amplify such news are paying less attention, and X’s algorithm amplifies blue check content and responses. This means that shitcoin promoters who know nothing or have 25 followers and pay $8 will appear at the top of the replies instead of experienced journalists who can provide useful, authentic information.

Since blue checks are now a sign of shame in many cases, quite a few users who have gotten them back aren’t necessarily happy about it. “Damn, I’m being censored. How do I opt out,” @emptywheel wrote. “Oh no,” Katie Notopoulos tweeted. “I became a promoter of bluecheck, the Chicago coin.”