New Delhi: Micro-blogging site Twitter on Tursday removed the verified blue tick from many high-profile individuals' account in India including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's among others.
The only individual Twitter users who have verified blue checkmarks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which costs USD 8/month via the web and USD 11/month through the in-app payment on iOS and Android.
The other political figures wo have lost the blue tick are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Besides them, political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Congress also lost their verification badges.
Due to the recent development, several B-town celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt and cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma among others have lost their verified blue ticks from their Twitter accounts. Earlier it was announced that the microblogging site would remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as notable before Elon Musk's takeover unless they have subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan, Variety reported.
Initially, the blue tick served as a way of protecting well-known individuals from impersonation and tackling false information.
Earlier in March, Twitter posted from their official handle, "On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue. Twitter first introduced the blue check mark system in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations and other accounts "of public interest" were genuine and not impostors or parody accounts. The company didn't previously charge for verification.
Musk launched Twitter Blue with the check-mark badge as one of the premium perks within two weeks of the company's takeover last year. (ANI)
