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Pope, Donald Trump, Roger FedererElon Musk takes action and removes Twitter ticks
The short message service has started removing the verification icon from users who don’t pay. Twitter boss Elon Musk wants to make money with the tick.
Musk describes the old system with the free tick as “bullshit”.
AFP/Chandan Khanna
Roger Federer no longer has a verification icon.
That’s what it’s about
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Twitter is removing the verification icon from celebrity users’ profiles in a big way.
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The white tick on a blue background is only available against payment.
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Twitter boss Elon Musk describes the old system as “nonsense”.
Online platform Twitter has started removing the verification icon from the accounts of non-paying users in a big way. The famous white tick on a blue background disappeared from the accounts of Pope Francis, ex-US President Donald Trump, pop star Justin Bieber, Roger Federer and numerous journalists on Thursday.
The technology billionaire Elon Musk announced last year after buying Twitter that users should pay for a verified account in the future. Traditionally, the accounts of politicians, celebrities, journalists and organizations have been ticked without asking for money. Musk called this system “bullshit”. He wants to earn money with the verification.
A first attempt to introduce a paid subscription model with verification for eight dollars a month ended in fiasco last November: there was a flood of fake profiles. As a result, Twitter temporarily disabled the system before reintroducing it.
Twitter lost advertisers
The platform then announced that from April 1, the verification ticks would be removed from the accounts of users who do not have a paid subscription. Now the company is apparently implementing the measure.
Musk acquired the short message service last October for $44 billion. In the course of a chaotic restructuring of the platform, the pugnacious entrepreneur dismissed top Twitter management and more than two-thirds of the 7,500 employees.
According to critics, hate speech and misinformation have surged on the platform since then. Twitter has repeatedly had to deal with technical problems in recent months and has lost many advertising customers.
(AFP/chk)
