Elon Musk’s X is reversing a policy that allowed X Premium users to hide the blue check mark that came with their subscription, adding another change to how verification works on the platform.

X began sending messages to premium users Thursday informing them that the ability to hide their blue check mark, which indicates to others that they are paying users, is ending.

“The hide your check mark feature of X Premium is going away soon,” the notice reads.

It’s unclear when the ability will be removed or what prompted the decision. X started letting users hide their check marks soon after finalizing the X Premium subscription tiers in August.

The feature came about after some X Premium users complained that a social stigma is attached to “paying for Twitter.”

The change follows a series of updates to X’s premium features. Earlier this month, the social media platform announced that some popular users would receive X Premium for free if they had enough followers with blue check marks.

Complicating this is that some users were given complimentary blue check marks after Twitter’s old verification system went away. Once X decided to make users pay for the check marks, most of the old guard lost theirs. However, some popular accounts and celebrities maintained their blue checks without paying for X Premium.

X Premium began as a way to generate additional revenue for the company and tackle the bot problem, which filled feeds with spam and made data unreliable. However, nearly a year since the introduction of the new subscription system, the bot problem remains,  and X Premium has failed to bring in the kind of users needed to make up for revenue lost from fleeing advertisers.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.