Holy blue tick, Batman! Hold on to your hats, folks, because it looks like Elon Musk is stirring up some trouble in the Twitterverse once again! Last year, when he took over Twitter, people expected some turbulence, but nobody thought it would lead to this. The latest fiasco involves the coveted blue ticks of verified celebrity accounts, which are now being separated from other fan-made accounts.
The latest news on the block is that some of the biggest names in Indian entertainment, including Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, and Virat Kohli, have lost their verified tick beside their names. Gasp!!!
Well, it doesn’t look like there will be any such luck anytime soon, because the latest fiasco surely points otherwise. Reportedly, the blue ticks of the verified batches, aka the distinguished official celebrity accounts, are separate from other fan-made accounts owing to the blue ticks they carry. Albeit there are some strong fan pages, which have this blue tick owing to their humongous, strong followership.
However, in tandem with the new rules, one needs to pay $8 per month via the web and $11 per month through the in-app payment on both iOS and Android to be able to retain these verified batches. Big celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahid Kapur, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and several others have lost their blue ticks owing to the non-payment of the same.
Here is a little list giving you the gist of which Bollywood and other biggies have lost the prized blue tick:
- Shahrukh Khan: has 43.4 million followers (@iamsrk)
- Ajay Devgn has 16.1 million followers (@ajaydevgn).
- Amitabh Bachchan has 48.4 million followers (@SrBachchan).
- Virat Kohli has 55 million followers (@imVKohli).
Wait, along with these famous names, there are several more. If we see the latest stats, the tech world’s biggie giants like Bill Gates, Narayan Murthy, and Ratan Tata, along with other noted personalities like Yogi Adityanath, Priyanka Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Alia Bhatt, Kajol, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, and Anushka Sharma, are still continuing to join the list. Even international celebs like The Prince and Princess of Wales, Beyonce, Jeremy Clarkson, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, Matt Hancock, and Leonardo Di Caprio are among those who now have regular profiles and, well, can be easily impersonated. Albeit there is a bit of relief here, as some accounts, including those of news organisations, have been awarded the special types of new ticks (gold or grey) that make them identifiable and different from the rest.
Well, Twitter is a hilarious place to be as well, if truth be told. Currently, there is a meme fest going on therein, with users taking the mickey out of this hilarious situation, hinting slyly that while many other commoners have a blue tick, such celebrities have been deprived of this. I mean, yeah, imagine one saying, “Okie, I have a blue tick on my account, whereas my favourite celeb “X” is devoid of it.”
Well, on April 20th, the official Twitter handle warned and announced about removing legacy verified checkmarks with an official tweet: “Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks.” Elon Musk had even commented, “Tomorrow is shaping up to be quite the day.” Well, it did!
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Celebrities all over, have taken to Twitter to respond to the removal of the tick. While some are taking a comic potshot at it, several others are voicing it out loud, saying they are “in a happier space” without it, not having to worry about dealing with the repercussions of what they say since anybody could easily impersonate them in the absence of the blue tick. While many are crying foul too over this sudden change, it remains to be seen how much Musk’s idea of “selling” the blue tick vis-à-vis people “earning” it works in the long run. As of now, it seems to have become the rigmarole of a truly hilarious meme fest.
So, let me know your thoughts on Twitter Blue Tick Controversy: Latest Developments in Elon Musk’s Twitterverse.
This post is part of the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge
An internationally accredited book blogger, voracious reader and the founder of Booxoul, one of India’s leading book and lifestyle blogs, Neelam is a person with a penchant for bringing out the best in people. A website designer, a renowned book blogger and a leading creative influencer on Instagram, here is a lady who is candid, closer to life and sensitive to the softest of emotions…
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