BW Explains: Twitter’s Blue Tick Saga

After much debate and delay of Twitter’s anticipated ‘Blue Tick removal’, the microblogging platform on Thursday finally did away with the blue verification mark from many users’ accounts – a checkmark the company introduced in 2009 to identify genuine public interest accounts.

The action came after Elon Musk’s tweet that pointed to a final warning which said, “Final date for removing legacy blue checks is 4/20”.

Now since the Blue Tick no longer denotes the authenticity of the user account, there are many ‘ifs’, ‘buts’, and ‘whys’ pertaining to the checkmark removal.

Why The Legacy Blue Tick Was Removed?

The simple answer to this is ‘Business’. Twitter wants its user to pay for the blue badge and states, the legacy checkmark is no more a user authentic verification and anybody willing to pay for ‘blue’ is eligible to enjoy the service.

What Does The Blue Tick Represent Now?

The checkmark denotes two different criteria - Previous Verification and Blue Subscription. 

Previous Verification: These are previously verified accounts and belong to active, notable and authentic users and still have the blue checkmark without any payment. However, such accounts are subject to a final review. 

Blue Subscription: These are paid user accounts and do not require special identity criteria for the blue checkmark and are not liable for any review after payment.

Charges For The Blue Tick?

According to Twitter’s official help page, subscribers on the web will be charged USD 8 monthly and USD 84 for a year and iOS and Android users will pay USD 11 per month and USD 114.99 per year, respectively.

Who Lost The Blue Tick?

According to Twitter’s policy, only the unpaid and unverified accounts were liable to lose the blue checkmark. But Twitter users reveal a completely different experience as many verified accounts of journalists, public figures, politicians, athletes, government officials, and film stars confirmed the loss of the coveted blue tick.

The Blue Tick Blunder

Instances of the blue tick appearance and disappearance were reported by many users. Some on Twitter highlighted not paying for the new subscription plan and still received a pop-up message saying that the account is blue subscribed and verified with their phone number. The same was notified by an American author Stephen King whose tweet read, “My Twitter account says I have subscribed to Twitter Blue, I haven’t. My Twitter account says I have given a phone, I haven’t”. A similar experience was reported by Indian film actor Amitabh Bachchan whose tweet hinted at blue tick removal despite paying for it. The actor further in a humorous tweet requested Twitter to return the account’s checkmark. Following this, Twitter retained Bachchan’s blue tick.

Tweet Snap Of American Author Stephen King

Tweet Snap Of Indian Actor, Amitabh Bachchan