Only verified accounts can vote in Twitter polls starting April 15: Elon Musk

Users with only verified accounts can vote in polls on Twitter and this will be coming to effect from April 15, the company's CEO Elon Musk said.

Also, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations, he said in a tweet. "Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations. The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason," he wrote.

It may be recalled that Musk had the social media platform would restrict voting on policy-related polls to paying Twitter Blue subscribers.

Twitter had said recently that it will be doing away with the blue ticks for legacy verified accounts starting April 1. The microblogging site will remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as notable before Elon Musk's takeover unless they have subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan, Variety reported.

The only individual Twitter users who will have verified blue check-marks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which in the U.S. costs USD 8/month via the web and USD 11/month through in-app payment on iOS and Android. Earlier, the company also announced that Twitter Blue was now available worldwide.

"On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue," Twitter posted from its official handle.

Twitter, however, has not revealed how it will deal with the accounts of people who have "notable" mentioned on it. For companies and brands, Twitter recently introduced a gold check-mark and has shifted government accounts to a gray check-mark.

As previously indicated, a subscription to the social network's new Twitter Verified Organizations program in the U.S. -- which will be the only way to keep a gold or grey check-mark badge -- will cost USD 1,000/month (plus tax) and USD 50/month (plus tax) for each additional affiliate subaccount.

The company had introduced verified accounts in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations and other accounts "of public interest" were genuine and not impostor or parody accounts. However, there was no charges for verification.

With inputs from agencies