What do the yellow and gray checkmarks mean on Twitter?

Twitter has seen other big changes as obsolete verified accounts lose their blue check marks.

The blue check used to be a way to identify verified accounts such as organizations and celebrities to prevent spam accounts.

However, following the acquisition of the social media site by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, blue ticks are now reserved for Twitter Blue subscribers.

Those who subscribe to Twitter Blue for £9.60 a month will get the coveted blue tick, plus features like tweet editing, text formatting, the ability to write longer tweets and more.

One of the changes Twitter has seen since acquiring Musk is the introduction of yellow and gray ticks — to make the blue ticks even worse — but what exactly do they mean?

Here’s what you need to know.

What is a yellow check mark?

The yellow check mark or gold check mark indicates that an account is an official business account under the Twitter Verified Organizations (TVO) scheme.

According to the Twitter website, “Twitter Verified Organizations enables all types of organizations — businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies — to sign up and manage their verification, as well as to connect and verify all associated accounts.”

Once subscribed, an organization can associate an unlimited number of affiliates, companies, or brands with their account.

If so, the affiliate account will have a small badge with the profile picture of the parent company next to the blue or gold checkmark to indicate that it is linked.

A TVO subscription costs $1,000 per month (£807) and $50 per month (£40) for each additional partner.

What is a gray check mark?

A gray check mark on a Twitter account that is also part of the TVO indicates that it belongs to a government or multilateral organization or agency.

Legitimate government organizations at the national level include:

• Accounts of the central management
• Accounts of authorities supervising specific policy areas
• Main accounts embassy and consulate
• Parliamentary or equivalent institutional and committee accounts. Eligible state and local government organizations include: Headquarters Accounts and Headquarters Accounts that oversee crisis response, public safety, law enforcement and regulation.

Eligible government grades may include:

• Heads of State (Presidents, Sovereigns and Prime Ministers)
• Deputy Heads of State (Vice Presidents, Deputy Prime Ministers)
• Cabinet members at national level or equivalent
• The official Chief Spokesperson of the Executive Branch or equivalent
• Individual members of all chambers of the supranational or national congress, parliament or equivalent

Eligible multilateral organizations include major institutional accounts at headquarters, regional and country level.

Multilateral persons include the head and deputy head or equivalent representative of the multilateral organization.

Eligible accounts may apply Hereand they can check if they meet the criteria for a gray check mark below Twitter’s Feature verified organizations.