It was until now a symbol of recognition on Twitter, reserved for personalities and organizations, but from April 1, the famous blue mark should disappear from all profiles, except those who will pay to use it.

After a first attempt, which had prompted a swarm of trolls and impostors to sometimes pretend to be Elon Musk himself, the boss of the social network intends to carry out this development, against all odds.

This blue notch, affixed next to the name of the profile, has nevertheless become, since its creation in 2009, one of the essential marks on Twitter, courted by the accounts which wanted to be certified, allowing the platform to become a safe forum for stars, politicians, organizations and journalists.

But the billionaire, and his army of fans, sees it on the contrary as the mark of a two-tier system, separating what he presents as the "plebeians" of Twitter from a privileged elite. 

One of its first decisions, after taking over the network last year, was to redesign Twitter Blue, the paid version of Twitter, by integrating certification, a reform that quickly turned into a fiasco.

In the hours that followed, fake accounts, but certified, flourished, posing as celebrities or large companies, sometimes not without consequence: the title of pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly thus plunged because of an announcement on one of those fake accounts.

Confronté lui-même à une marée de faux comptes, M. Musk a reculé, instituant un système de vérification des souscripteurs de l'option, mais trop tard: nombre des principaux annonceurs ont quitté Twitter, réduisant les revenus du réseau.

Depuis son rachat, Elon Musk a largement taillé dans les effectifs et dans le même temps redonné accès à ceux dont les comptes avaient été bloqués, provoquant une explosion des propos haineux et de la violence en ligne, selon les organisations surveillant les réseaux sociaux.