As the old adage goes: Verified today, blue-tick gone tomorrow.

Twitter have announced they will be cracking down on the previously-liberal verification process that decides which Twitter users get the warm glow of knowing their account comes with the blue tick that denotes Important Official Status.

Basically, they are scrapping the current system, and until a new one is in place, they will not accept public submissions for verification.

On top of this, they will begin actively removing blue ticks from “people who we in no way endorse.”

How this will be done will no doubt open up another huge can of unverified worms, but it will include, “anyone who misleads people in their display name or bio [which is most of Twitter at the moment], promotes hate [ditto] or violence [so no Game Of Thrones promos], engages in harassment on the platform, engages in violent and dangerous behavior, shares disturbing imagery or expresses self-harm.”

That’s a wide net to cast.

“We should have addressed this [verification issue] earlier but did not prioritise the work as we should have,” Twitter tweeted, as the world imploded upon itself…

The move is already proving controversial, with conservatives claiming that are being unfairly targeted.

Twitter just emailed me to tell me they are removing my "verified badge" because they claim my account "doesn't comply with Twitter's guidelines for verified accounts."

Translation: I'm a conservative. pic.twitter.com/F1AsxWI6Fm

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) November 15, 2017

Actor John Stamos, misleading the public with his profile picture

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.