Microblogging platform Twitter has so far not revoked the legacy verified blue tick from most of the accounts that have not paid for subscribing ‘Twitter Blue’ service.
However, some of the organisations in India shared that they have paid for the blue service to maintain the brand reputation on the microblogging platform. Twitter also replaced the blue bird logo with that of Doge meme, a logo used for the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, on its web home page. The value of Dogecoin cryptocurrency rallied after the move. Twitter’s owner Musk has invested in Dogecoin. Twitter last month shared that it will begin winding down its legacy verified programme and removing legacy verified checkmarks from April 1. The social media platform has removed the verification batch from the New York Times account.
Several celebrities in Western countries Tweeted that they will not pay for the blue tick. Professionals in India shared mixed views. Media organisation Medianama Founder Nikhil Pahwa, who continues to have a blue tick on his verified account, said that he will not pay to subscribe to Twitter’s Blue service. “For a platform which is full of misinformation and fake news, I think it is important for it to have verified sources, especially that of journalists who can set the record straight. Media publications have an important role to play,” Pahwa said.
He said that anyone can buy a blue tick mark to impersonate anyone which will lead to confusion and reduce credibility of platforms like Twitter. “I think there should be a different colour of tick mark for the paid version from those who have been verified. The way Twitter is rolling out service is very confusing. The policy keeps changing frequently. This shows lack of clear thinking on the part of Twitter’s management,” Pahwa said. Messy Desk Media CEO Akhilesh Shukla said that he has subscribed to the Blue service for his firm and equated the feature similar to corporate email ids that look more credible. A communication professional Vishal Mishra said that he had a verified account earlier and he has subscribed to the service to maintain the veracity of his account.
Interestingly, Twitter, over the past few months, has been in the spotlight for controversial reasons ranging from technical glitches to layoffs. The micro-blogging platform initiated a massive cost-cutting drive globally, after billionaire Elon Musk’s USD 44-billion takeover of Twitter last year. In fact, Twitter downsized from more than 7,000 people to 2,300 active employees across the globe the mass layoffs began with the firing of CEO Parag Agrawal as well as the CFO and many other high ranking leaders last year.
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