Celebrities and sportsmen worldwide have lost the ‘blue tick’ on their Twitter accounts, which previously served as a mark of authenticity to protect well-known personalities from impersonation. The removal of verified tick marks follows Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in 2022 and the introduction of Twitter’s paid membership, ‘Twitter Blue.’
Under Musk’s administration, users must now pay a monthly subscription cost for the verified checkmark. Before this change, blue checkmarks were granted to important personalities, journalists, CEOs, politicians, and organizations once their identities were verified.
Prominent Indian cricketers, such as MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Yusuf Pathan, have lost their verified Twitter accounts, alongside football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
In a reply to Pop Base, Elon Musk has confirmed that he is “personally paying” for some celebrities including William Shatner, Lebron James and Stephen King.
In November 2022, Musk announced that Twitter would charge $8 per month for the verification badge to diversify revenue streams beyond advertising. Subsequently, the company introduced gold checkmarks for business organizations and grey for government, multilateral groups, and officials.
Twitter now also displays labels like “state-affiliated” and “automated by” to indicate an account’s association with a government. Individual users can maintain their blue tick marks by paying $8 per month, while organizations pay $1,000 monthly for account authentication, and affiliate or employee accounts pay $50 monthly.
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