On Thursday, Twitter removed the legacy blue tick verification badge for users who have not subscribed to its paid service. Numerous prominent people in India have been impacted by the decision, including most chief ministers and well-known celebrities. Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, both members of the Congress, have lost their verified status on Twitter. Additionally, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, and other political parties’ official Twitter profiles no longer display their verification seals.
High-profile people, journalists, businesspeople, politicians, and establishments received the coveted blue checkmarks after their identities had been confirmed as a proof of their reliability. However, Twitter has made significant changes to the way it validates accounts since Elon Musk took control. In order to encourage users to subscribe to the platform’s paid features, which Musk views as essential to Twitter’s future revenue development, new regulations have been put in place.
Musk mentioned a 50% decline in advertising revenue between October and March in a tweet from last month, emphasising the necessity for additional revenue sources. The new rule tries to persuade users to sign up for “Twitter Blue,” which in India costs about 650 rupees per month on the web and 900 rupees on the mobile app.
Twitter extended the deadline for the removal of outdated verification badges to Thursday in spite of the initial announcement in order to offer verified users more time to choose whether to pay for the service. Reuters, a news organisation, reports that just a very small percentage of Twitter users—roughly 1%—have signed up for “Twitter Blue.”
On Thursday, a popup message informed users who still had a blue tick that their account was “verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Pope Francis, former US President Donald Trump, and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates were among those who lost their verification badges.
Many have questioned the fairness of Twitter’s new policy in response to the change, which has drawn intense criticism. The disappearance of the blue tick has been viewed as a setback to the reputations of prominent people, particularly politicians. It is still to be seen whether the new strategy would improve Twitter’s income growth or drive users away from the service.