Elon Musk’s Twitter network has begun removing blue verification tick marks from accounts that do not pay the monthly fee, affecting many high-profile users and media outlets.
The site initially stated that it would begin winding the system on April 1. But the date went without incident, and the date was changed to April 20.
The company’s former leadership had issued verified blue tick marks on Twitter accounts to identify accounts belonging to public organisations and high-profile users. The blue checks also aided in the identification of accounts and distinguishing them from imposters.
Read also: Twitter’s $1,000 “simple” verification enrages users
Impersonation may be on the rise
Many Prominent figures from entertainers to journalists, High-profile users who lost their blue checks may have to deal with fear of impersonation as reports of Fake accounts have already emerged.
The fake account handles are slightly different from the authentic ones, the fakes also had far fewer followers than the legitimate accounts. But the fakes used the same photos, biographical text and home page links as the real ones.
Criticisms continue to trail Twitter’s decision on social media that the purpose of the verification is being defeated because anyone could impersonate another just by subscribing to Twitter Blue.
Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-check system. In the past, the checks meant that Twitter had verified that users were who they said they were.
While Twitter is now offering gold checks for “verified organizations” and gray checks for government organizations and their affiliates, it was not always clear why some accounts had them Friday, and others did not.
Twitter could lose its status as favourite platform for information
The development has raised concerns that Twitter could lose its status as a favourite platform for getting accurate, up-to-date information from authentic sources, including in emergencies.
As Many users express disappointment and vow to leave Twitter, Analysts have forecasted that more than 30 million users are expected to leave Twitter as concerns mount.
The number of global monthly users is predicted to fall by nearly 4% next year and 5% in 2024 – more than 32 million in total – in the first annual declines forecast by the market research agency “Insider Intelligence” since it began tracking the social media platform in 2008.
“There won’t be one catastrophic event that ends Twitter,” a principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, Jasmine Enberg, said. “Instead, users will start to leave the platform as they grow frustrated.”
The cost of keeping the blue check
The costs of keeping the blue check marks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly to verify an organization, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. But the meaning of the check has changed to symbolize that the user bought a premium account that can help more people see their tweets. It also includes other features, such as the ability to edit tweets.
For users who still had a blue check, a popup message indicated that the account “is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Verifying a phone number simply means that the person has a phone number and they verified that they have access to it — it does not confirm the person’s identity.
Fewer than 5% of legacy verified accounts appear to have paid to join Twitter Blue, according to an analysis by Travis Brown, a Berlin-based developer of software for tracking social media.