On April 21, 2023, Twitter announced that advertisers spending less than $1,000/month are now required to have a verified checkmark or subscribe to either Twitter Blue or Verified Organizations to continue running ads.
The announcement also noted that advertisers spending $1000/month should already have gold checkmarks or will soon and can continue running their ads “without interruption”.
What Twitter Says About the New Requirements
Twitter states that its decision to introduce mandatory verification for advertisers is part of the platform’s ongoing commitment to protect users from potential scams, misleading information, and low-quality advertising content.
In an email sent to advertisers (shared by Twitter user @MattNaverra) about these new changes, Twitter states:
“This change aligns with Twitter’s broader verification strategy: to elevate the quality of content on Twitter and enhance your experience as a user and advertiser. This approach also supports our ongoing efforts to reduce fraudulent accounts and bots.”
For advertisers who do decide to pay the monthly fee for verification, Twitter promises that they’ll have “a more organic presence and a broader range of creation tools.”
This decision was met with some controversy from digital marketers who were already unhappy with the direction the platform has been taking since Elon Musk’s takeover.
About Verified Organizations and Twitter Blue
Twitter Blue’s subscription model requires $8/month to receive the iconic blue checkmark and provides access to features such as:
- Ability to edit tweets
- See fewer ads
- Ability to write longer tweets of up to 10,000 characters
- Text formatting capabilities
- Bookmark folders
- Custom app icons
- NFT profile pictures
- Themes
- Custom navigation
- Spaces tab
- Top articles (lists the most shared articles from people you follow and the people they follow)
- Prioritized rankings in conversations in search
- Ability to upload longer videos
- SMS two-factor authentication
On the other hand, Twitter’s “Verified Organizations” subscription model gives businesses gold and grey checkmarks, square avatars, and custom affiliation badges for $1,000/month. Twitter Verified Organizations also gain access to exclusive features such as:
- Verified Organizations Portal
- Affiliations
- Custom Organization Profile
- Impersonation Defense
- Premium Support
- Elevated Tweet, DM, and Media Upload Limits
- All the benefits of Twitter Blue
Final Thoughts
Although Twitter’s new requirement for advertiser verification may help reduce spam or discourage malicious advertisers from using the platform, it may simultaneously deter smaller businesses from using it, reducing the overall appeal of Twitter advertising. On top of that, as many marketing industry experts have pointed out, for this to actually be effective Twitter will need to adopt a more rigorous vetting process.
