The paid option is intended to make money :)
But to be serious, blue checkmarks always had a vanity element to them, so they were offered for whatever purpose a users wanted them.
If users are interested in paying for blue checks for whatever reason the individual user may want one, Twitter is happy to take their money.
None of that has impact on other options for identity verification, though, if one wants to pursue it.
@volkris @briankrebs @jerry I've read that #TwitterBlue accounts gain #follower range as they are preferred by the #algorithm. Though this feature may seem to be just a flattery for your vanity it actually impacts how other people may interpret your #credibility.
And as many already blue marked accounts of #journalists, #media and #politicians lost their #verification after #CElo took over the #DeadBird 
, there's a trend of much more #desinformation, #HateSpeech and #propaganda, especially by #rightist and #racist actors...
Keep in mind that part of the story is that with so many "good" users leaving the platform there are fewer of them posting, leaving the platform with a higher proportion of negative content.
But if that's what users find compelling, then *shrug*
I never found Twitter worthwhile myself, so your description of what it is today strikes me as what I always found when I went over there.
Well I think a lot depends on what each individual user is looking for from a platform.
For example, I personally don't expect any of these platforms to build community. I know others do, but it's just not a draw for me.
Rather, I think social media CAN represent a crosssection of the population, biased as it may be, which includes a lot of perspectives I don't agree with or enjoy, but that's the point: to engage with the world, warts and all.
It's unfortunate that so many have decided to stop lending their perspectives to Twitter, especially if those are valuable perspectives. That choice leaves #Twitter with less good out outweigh the bad elements of society. The choice biases the cross section in a negative direction.
But my main point here is that a bunch of people left Twitter and are now complaining that Twitter doesn't have the perspectives that they themselves took out of it!
@volkris @briankrebs @jerry Before I started exploring the #Fediverse last year, I've never used #SocialMedia at all: #noFacebook, #noInstgram, #noTicToc, #noTwitter, #noYouTube, etc.
Commercials driven platforms generally never appeal useful to me in terms of community building and communication. For this reason I successfully refrain from using #noDiscord, #noSkype, #noTelegram, #noWhatsApp, etc.
In my opinion people sacrifice a lot of their #privacy and force others into the same dilemma because of the #NetworkEffect to gain using a tool for free more conveniently than spending some time to #FLOSS alternatives.