It lost it’s meaning before that.

It started as “we have confirmed you are who you say you are, public figure”, and that was it.

The some Twitter features were pegged to it.

Then it spread.

Then it also somehow became a “Twitter approves of this message” flag, as some people were stripped of their check for posting offensive things (probably most notoriously Milo).

Then Twitter staff started expediting the process in exchange for essentially bribes.

Then Elon buys Twitter.

Then it just became a subscription service, with enhanced features over non-check users.