Apple CEO Tim Cook subscribes to Twitter Blue to keep blue checkmark

Apple CEO Tim Cook has seemingly subscribed to Twitter’s pay-monthly Twitter Blue subscription service, allowing him to continue to show a blue checkmark on his profile amid a blue badge cull, which is seeing Twitter remove the iconic blue verification badge from ‘legacy’ verified accounts that received the checkmark prior to Musk’s takeover of the platform last year.

Beginning today, Twitter has officially started to remove blue badges from the profiles of high-profile accounts.

Before Elon Musk’s turbulent acquisition of Twitter, blue verification badges symbolised accounts that had provided information to verify they were genuine and represented the company or individual they claimed they did.

However, as part of Musk’s rampant effort to monetise the platform after his $44 billion buyout, Twitter is now allowing any user worldwide to subscribe and pay to show the platform’s blue verification checkmark on their profile, as well as to gain access other paywalled features including the ability to post higher-resolution 1080p videos, share longer tweets, Edit Tweet and Undo Tweet options, and more.

As part of the new blue badge cull, Twitter is showing a new pop-up on the profile of paying Twitter Blue subscribers, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, which says “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number,” seemingly confirming that Cook is paying $11/month to keep his blue badge.

For ‘legacy’ verified accounts to retain their blue badges, users will need to pay for the Twitter Blue subscription service, which adds a blue badge to any paying account, or join the higher-priced $1,000/month Twitter Verified Organizations subscription, which gives subscribers a golden checkmark rather than the familiar blue badge.