Henceforth, only those users paying $11 per month for Twitter Blue will be able to retain the blue tick on their accounts.
In India, the price for Twitter Blue is Rs 900 per month for the iOS app. For the web, it is Rs 650 per month. For Android users, the monthly charge is Rs 900.
Also read: Jack Dorsey loses Blue tick, brings his Twitter alternative Bluesky to Android
“We are removing legacy verified checkmarks. To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue,” the company said in a statement on Twitter.
A status symbol
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A check mark had for years meant that Twitter had verified the identity of the user behind an account. However, after taking over Twitter for $44 billion last October, Elon Musk said he would do away with the “Lords and Peasants” system, and announced a slew of changes, including monetisation of the verification badge.
Musk is pushing for paid verification to pump in revenue for the cash-strapped company.
The Twitter CEO had on April 11 tweeted that users would lose the legacy blue check marks from April 20.
“Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20,” he said.
Biggest losers
The latest move has resulted in several celebrities, with followings running into millions, also losing the verification badge on the microblogging platform. Shah Rukh Khan (43.4 million), Amitabh Bachchan (48.4 million), Virat Kohli (55.1 million) and Rahul Gandhi (23.3 million) are among those who have lost their verification badge on Twitter.
Former US president Donald Trump (87.2 million), Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates (62.5 million), and author JK Rowling (14 million) have also lost their blue ticks on the social networking site.
Even the most followed persons on the platform have lost their verification badge, this includes Justin Bieber, the third most followed person on the platform with 113 million followers, and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 108.3 million followers.
Prime Minister Narendra Mod’s silver tick remains intact.
Meanwhile, some personalities, such as basketball star LeBron James and author Stephen King, who have both said they will not pay for the checkmark, still had their blue ticks.
My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t.My Twitter account says I’ve giv… https://t.co/bVyBvqNAN2
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) 1682022380000
Musk later tweeted: “I’m paying for a few personally.” He later added: “Just Shatner, LeBron and King.”
@PopBase Just Shatner, LeBron and King
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 1682037595000
“Welp guess my blue will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying,” basketball player LeBron James had said in a tweet last month.
Welp guess my blue ✔️ will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5. 🤷🏾♂️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) 1680279415000
Musk initially proposed charging $20 monthly for verification, but later lowered the price to $8. Some users said they would leave Twitter, while others refused to pay.
Delayed removal
Twitter had earlier said users would lose their verification badges on April 1 but it did not remove the blue tick.
The company recently offered gold check-marks for businesses and gray for government and multilateral organisations and officials.
It has also started using labels such as ‘state-affiliated’ and ‘automated by’ for accounts linked to a government or for bots.
Some prominent personalities had complained that the change would lead to impersonation.
Last November, an impostor account with a checkmark pretended to be the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and tweeted that it would provide free insulin to customers. Interestingly, on March 1, the company slashed the prices of the lifesaving drug by 70%, though that decision was driven more by pressure from US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
