Monday, April 24, 2023

Repost: Twitter Restores Blue Tick to High Profile Accounts

Image courtesy of www.bbc.com

Source: www.bbc.com

Some Twitter accounts with more than one million followers have had their blue tick badges re-instated by Twitter without paying to subscribe.

Beyoncé, Harry Kane, Richard Osman and Victoria Beckham are among those to have their blue tick back.

The BBC News Twitter account also has its gold badge again, but has not paid for it.

Before the platform was bought by Elon Musk, the blue tick was a badge of verification given for free by Twitter.

It was originally used as a tool of authentication, designed to help stop fake accounts and the spread of misinformation.

Now it is a symbol that an account has subscribed to a premium service called Twitter Blue - and there is a verification process attached with making the payment. There are various prices depending on where the subscription is made but it is around $8 per month.

Those with a blue tick from the original verification process, who decided not to pay the subscription fee, began losing their ticks on 20 April.

The broadcaster James O'Brien, who has 1.1m followers, is one of those who has now got his blue tick back after losing it. He confirmed that he had not paid for his account.

He also noted that some accounts with fewer than 1m followers also appeared to have had their blue ticks restored, "anointed entirely at Elon Musk's discretion".

Eliot Higgins, who founded the investigations organisation Bellingcat, confirmed to me on Friday that his blue tick, and Bellingcat's verification, had been given to him for free.

Mr Musk has claimed that he paid for the subscriptions himself on behalf of the author Stephen King, the actor William Shatner and the basketball player Lebron James who had all criticised the scheme.

At the time of writing, some celebrities like actor Ryan Reynolds who also owns Wrexham football club, still has no blue tick despite having over 21m followers.

It was reported that the removal of the legacy blue ticks had to be done manually so it is possible that this is also a manual process which will continue over the coming days.

Twitter Blue has had a troubled launch. It was initially delayed after fake accounts sprung up pretending to be official organisations, and in recent weeks both subscribers and formerly verified accounts have looked the same.

Subscribers' tweets have higher visibility, individual posts can be longer, and they will see fewer ads.

Elon Musk has previously said that the firm's finances were in dire straits when he took over and that Twitter was operating at a loss of $4m per day.

Twitter has not revealed how many people have chosen to subscribe so far but the app firm Sensor Tower estimated to TechCrunch that the platform had around 386,000 subscribers in March 2023.

This does not include subscriptions made on Twitter's website rather than within its app but is still a small fraction of its roughly 300 million user-base.

22 comments:

  1. hahaha i guess no one was willing to waste $8 for a checkmark 🤭

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well read this: Instagram and Facebook users will now be able to pay for a blue tick verification, parent company Meta has announced.
      Meta Verified will cost $11.99 (£9.96) a month on web, or $14.99 for iPhone users.

      Delete
    2. ansabe, "the platform had around 386,000 subscribers in March 2023."

      tapos, "This does not include subscriptions made on Twitter's website rather than within its app but is still a small fraction of its roughly 300 million user-base."

      Meaning to say, failed and attempt ni Elon at di pinag-isipan ang charge nato dahil as long as you can pay the sub amount you can have the tick kahit fake ang account defeating the actual purpose of why Twitter had it in the first place.

      Delete
  2. Eh kung yung mga loud and proud fake info spreaders ang willing magbayad? For example, yung mga Flat Earthers? Fahil magiging verified sila, mas magiging visible sila at may chance na makaengganyo pa ng mga di nakikinid ng Science lessons sa paaralan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Korek!! Wrong move nanaman si Elon.

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    2. exactly, it's so regressive

      Delete
  3. Nawawala kasi ang meaning ng blue checkmark. Bakit ka magbabayad ng $8 parang bumabayad ka to validate yourself. For the public ang blue checkmark hindi para sa celebs at high profile people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Influencer-kuno-era kasi kaya alam nilang kikita sila dyan ng malaki.

      Delete
    2. Nagbabayad just fyi 1.29

      Delete
  4. Oops testing lang daw! Haha what a clown. Nawala na talaga credibility ng Twitter.

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  5. Shunga naman kasi yung idea na pagbayarin ang celebrities for the blue check. Afford naman nila kung pera din lang, pero magmumuka tuloy sila desperada trying hard if they pay, nagiging kalevel lang nila mga scam account and cloutchasers who need to buy validation. Mas nakakacheap pa ang dating e for celebrities pa naman image is everything.

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  6. Madaming magiging fake accounts kung magiging basehan lang ay paid blue tick. Maraming maloloko lalo na pag high profile accounts.

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  7. Hopefully some will create a new soc med platform na hindi kailangan magbayad dahil sapat na yung kita sa ads. This is pure greed. Twitter sucks anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fb nga lng asar na asad na ako gamitin kasi laging may lumalabas na ads bigla tapos malalaswa pa hindi nman ako naglalike ng hindi nman related sa ganun.

      Delete
    2. Soc meds have long lost their luster. I miss the days that soc meds are used purely for connecting with friends tapos konting games. Now, I am only active on Reddit and here on FP. All others are deactivated or deleted na. Hahaha.

      Delete
  8. Dapat pala mag criticize kayo para hindi na magbayad. Flawed ang system na to kung nagbibigay din sila ng libreng check

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  9. Kasi naman what self respecting celebrity would pay for a blue check mark, magmumuka kang influencer cloutchasing puchu-puchu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ang tingin ko, inassume ng twitter na walang choice yung mga celebs kundi magsubscribe to prevent themselves from being impersonated dahil baka kung ano anong slander ang mangyari gamit ang identity nila. Pero obviously, hindi nagwork.

      Delete
    2. Yun nga kasi it is no longer proof of credibility kung nabibili at naaagaw lang pala at such cheap price. Pag nakakita mga tao ng blue check mag iisip pa sila kung totoo o impostor lang

      Delete
  10. Just dump twitter

    ReplyDelete