"Verified" is now an anti-signal. It's more likely than not to indicate that the poster is a crank who's paying money to have their opinions disseminated.
It was never a signal for 99% of verified users. It as a game.
It was an anti-signal before.
It was at least a reliable signal that the person is who they say they are. They are shifting away from actual verification towards attempting to sell status, which rarely works.
I would agree with this, except verified account posts still get shown first.