Twitter has made the blue check mark available to users for a fee. With that, the social media chaos is now complete. Dozens of fake accounts that mimic celebrities or companies have already bought a blue tick and therefore appear to be real.
Shortly after the payment option appeared, users had already created various imitation profiles with a blue tick on Twitter. For example, there was a fake Nintendo account in the US. In the profile photo, Mario, an iconic Nintendo character, raised his middle finger. Twitter has already blocked that account.
Fake accounts have also emerged for former US presidents Donald Trump and George W. Bush. Bush’s fake profile tweeted that he “misses killing Iraqis”. The person behind Trump’s fake account released a statement on Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, writing, “This is why Musk’s plan doesn’t work.”
The blue check mark now does not necessarily mean that Twitter has verified the identity of a Twitter user. Instead, the check mark shows that the user pays $ 8 ($ 7.95) per month for the Twitter Blue subscription.
Now it’s hard to tell if a Twitter account is real or fake. It’s only when you click the check mark that you can see if the user paid for the check mark or if Twitter actually verified the account.
Musk wants all users to pay for using Twitter. This should make the company less dependent on advertising sales.
