Back in blue? Twitter restores blue tick for many legacy accounts, users say they didn’t pay for subscription

While there is no communication from Twitter, it is reportedly restoring blue tick badge for accounts with at least one million followers, adding to confusion over its policy.

The blue checkmark for Twitter Blue subscribers | Commons

New Delhi: Twitter has restored the blue verification badge for many legacy verified accounts – largely those with high follower count – even though they have said they haven’t paid for the subscription service, Twitter Blue. This has only added to the confusion over the microblogging website’s new policy. 

Earlier this week, the Elon Musk-owned site removed the blue verification check marks for users who have not paid for Twitter Blue. As a result, many journalists, politicians, and government officials around the world lost their blue verification marks.

While there is no clarity or communication from Twitter on this, the platform is reportedly restoring the blue badge for accounts with at least one million followers, a blanket policy that seems to be including accounts of deceased celebrities as well, such as football legend Pele, and actor Chadwick Boseman. 

Multiple users, including prominent handles such as that of Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took to Twitter to say their legacy blue check verified accounts are restored though they have not subscribed to Twitter Blue. However, when clicked on, the blue tick displays a message that the accounts are verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue.

In India, journalists such as Nidhi Razdan and Vishnu Som, and former cricket Aakash Chopra, tweeted stating that they have not paid for Twitter’s Blue verification badge, which has now been reinstated on their accounts. Similarly, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, and comedian Ricky Gervais said they have not paid for the blue tick which their accounts now have.

When Twitter removed the free blue checkmarks a couple of days ago, few celebrities had retained their verification mark as Musk announced he will personally pay for a few such accounts, including that of American author Stephen King, US basketball superstar LeBron James and Canadian actor William Shatner.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)