By John Ikani
Twitter has reinstated the blue verification badge on some high-profile accounts, including those of media outlets and celebrities, but the move has been met with protests from some of the recipients.
The blue tick was once a free symbol of authenticity and fame, but now Twitter users must pay $8 a month for it.
The change was implemented as part of a strategy called “Twitter Blue” to generate new revenue, which was announced last year by owner Elon Musk.
On Thursday, non-paying accounts that had a blue tick lost it as part of the new policy.
According to Berlin-based software developer Travis Brown, only a small fraction of blue-ticked users subscribed, less than 5% of the 407,000 profiles affected.
However, over Friday and Saturday, many celebrities regained their blue ticks, seemingly without any action on their part, including author Stephen King, NBA champion LeBron James, and former US President Donald Trump.
Musk tweeted on Friday that he was “paying for a few (subscriptions) personally.”
Many media accounts, including official ones, regained their blue ticks, even though they did not subscribe to Twitter Blue.
AFP, for example, has not subscribed to the service, but its account received the verification badge.
The New York Times, which was recently criticized by Musk as “propaganda,” also got back its gold badge this month.
The Times is one of the major media groups that have a gold tick reserved for an “official business account” paying at least $1,000 a month.
However, the reinstated ticks did not lure back US public radio NPR and Canada’s public broadcaster CBC, which recently suspended activity on their accounts and had not resumed tweeting as of Sunday.
The broadcasters were among those to protest the “state-affiliated” and “government-funded” labels Twitter attached to them, which were previously reserved for non-independent media funded by autocratic governments.
Twitter removed these labels on Friday, including those applied to China’s official news agency Xinhua and Russia’s RT.
Many who unwillingly gained blue ticks made it clear that they had not subscribed to the service and were not happy with it.
Tech journalist Kara Swisher tweeted on Saturday, saying that she had gained the blue tick without her consent and added, “Inquiring minds need to know: Does Elon love me for me or for my 1.49 million followers?”
Similarly, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which was also bestowed a blue tick, tweeted on Saturday, “We did not subscribe to Twitter Blue.”
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who mocked Musk last July, also denied buying a subscription, saying, “So my blue check has reappeared. I had nothing to do with that and am definitely not paying.”
In response, Musk posted an image of a baby crying over his plate of pasta, wearing a bib with a superimposed blue tick.
