Athletes, artists, journalists, and other popular people comprised a large portion of the approximately 300,000 verified users of Twitter who were part of the initial blue tick program. For instance, Wizkid, Burna Boy, The Pope, Burna Boy, Davido, Ronaldo, Jay-Z, and a ton more.
Most well-known people in the world have lost their blue verification ticks, as Twitter has now started deleting “valid†ones from verified accounts.
A Twitter Blue subscription, which can cost up to £11 per month in the UK, or affiliation with the business will be required to continue receiving blue ticks.
However, unlike the “legacy†blue ticks established shortly after Twitter's start to help users identify which accounts were real, the social media network will no longer validate the accounts to make sure they are who they claim to be. Profiles with various colored checkmarks will keep them; a gold checkmark signifies a confirmed business, while a gray checkmark indicates a government, multilateral organization, or official as the account's representative.
It puts an end to one of the most contentious aspects of Musk's management of Twitter since his $44 billion (£38 billion) takeover last October.
He made “power to the people†one of his first major decisions by allowing users to purchase ticks, but the decision backfired, flooding the platform with accounts pretending to be businesses, celebrities, and officials.