The current Twitter situation is something that the song Piece of Me (by our beloved Britney Spears) describes perfectly: “another day, another drama”. The famous blue “check” that only verified accounts used to have has finally been removed, but not for deceased celebrities.
Profiles such as Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Hugo Chávez or Chadwick Boseman still have the blue badge, something that has surprised the platform’s users. As if that were not enough, this not only affects posthumous accounts: the writer Stephen King is another of the profiles that saw his “check” come back with it, despite assuring that he had not paid Twitter Blue (and that he did not plan to do so either).
Neil Gaiman’s account also appeared to have succumbed to the subscription, something that was later clarified on Twitter. In his words, “I am not subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t given anyone my phone number.”
Neither Twitter nor Elon Musk have explained at any time the reason for these verifications, although he has said that he would personally pay the subscriptions of figures such as Stephen King, William Shatner (Star Trek icon) or LeBron James.
Elon Musk and his strange changes on Twitter
After Musk’s arrival at Twitter (including a $44 billion payment), the tycoon has been looking for a way to solve the liquidity problems that the company had been dragging for a long time. One of his most talked-about moves has been to completely eliminate verification and from now on, it will only be available to those who pay for a subscription to Twitter Blue.
And the tycoon doesn’t care who you are. If you don’t pay, there is no check. Famous media accounts such as the New York Times or the BBC saw their brands disappear, for example. Even so, it seems that Musk has reserved the right to keep certain accounts verified, as has been the case with the profiles we mentioned above.
However, the AV Club media has revealed a possible reason behind the return of the “check” to certain accounts. The requirement that the account must apparently maintain is to have more than one million followers.
