In another day of Twitter’s new moves, Elon Musk has now removed blue ticks from renowned Twitter accounts in order to make people buy the ticks, or for some other reason, as we don’t exactly know what goes on in mind behind Tesla.
In an update by Matt Navara, an industry expert, and analyst, he revealed how some of the removals had been a mistake.
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, unveiled the “Twitter Blue” premium service last year, claiming it would “democratize journalism and empower the voice of the people.” In essence, this meant that the blue ticks that Twitter had previously used to identify authentic accounts would no longer be freely, and anyone desiring the tick would have to pay for it.
In a thread, Matt also mentioned who all are now blue-tick-less.
Who is affected by Twitter’s decision?
According to a DW article, some 300,000 users had the blue tick on their profiles before Musk terminated the verification mechanism on Thursday. Pop superstars Beyonce and Shakira, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, sports sensation Cristiano Ronaldo, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and former US President Donald Trump (who is not actively active on Twitter) are among the well-known people who have lost their verification.
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LeBron James, a star in the world of basketball, Stephen King, and William Shatner, who portrayed Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek TV series, have all maintained their blue ticks despite not using the program. Musk said Thursday that he was “personally paying” for their ticks.
Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Alia Bhatt, as well as sports stars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Smriti Mandhana, and P V Sindhu, no longer have blue ticks next to their names. Even though he had paid for it, Amitabh Bachchan complained in Bhojpuri that his blue tick had not been restored.
The blue checkmark no longer denotes that an account is verified; instead, it now just shows that a person has subscribed to the service and provided Twitter with their phone number.
In some nations, Musk debuted the Twitter Blue service in November 2022, but it was met with opposition. Additionally, he had to reduce the cost of the tick; initially, Musk had suggested charging $20 per month but eventually reduced it to $8. After numerous fake accounts, he was also compelled to temporarily suspend the service. Twitter stated that it would eventually begin “winding down [the] legacy verified program and removing legacy verified tick marks” on April 1 in a statement made in March of this year.
How much does Twitter Blue Cost?
The monthly cost of the Twitter Blue subscription in India is Rs 900 for both iOS and Android smartphones. The monthly fee for the online service is Rs 650. Users can also choose to subscribe to the online service annually for Rs 6,800. The cost of an iOS and Android subscription is Rs 9,400 per year.
