Only paying Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to vote in polls and appear in ‘For You’ recommendations from April 15th

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has announced that beginning next month, only Twitter Blue subscribers will be able to vote in polls on the platform and appear in For You recommendations, saying the change is to “address advanced AI bot swarms taking over.”

The announcement follows after Twitter confirmed it will be axing its “legacy” verified program beginning this week, removing the iconic blue badge from accounts that received the checkmark prior to Musk’s takeover of the platform last year.

Twitter expanded the availability of its pay-monthly Twitter Blue subscription service last week, allowing any user worldwide to subscribe to show the platform’s blue verification checkmark on their profile, as well as to gain accesses other paywalled features including the ability to post higher-resolution 1080p videos, share longer tweets, Edit Tweet and Undo Tweet options, and more.

Twitter Blue, often referred to as “Twitter Verified,” costs $11/month when purchased on iPhone, or $8/month when purchased on the web to circumvent the 30% commission Apple takes on in-app purchases from the App Store.