Greater visibility, Elon Musk had already asked to benefit from it. But the Twitter boss is not the only one who has preferential treatment on the platform. The American site Platformer reveals that around 35 accounts have “VIP” status, which guarantees them greater exposure.
Among these particularly pampered users we find personalities such as the basketball player LeBron James, the conservative Ben Shapiro, or even the most followed youtuber in the world, MrBeast. But this list also includes lesser-known people (but followed by more than a million accounts): conservative columnist under the pseudonym @cartturd2, one of the pioneer users of the @dril platform and one of Twitter’s investors, Marc Andreessen. .
Politically, US President Joe Biden is one of the “VIPs”, as is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, elected to the House of Representatives. Several journalists specializing in economics or politics are also included. However, some do not seem to be aware of this favoritism, according to the publication by Matthew Yglesias, a Bloomberg editorial writer.
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In concrete terms, these users appear more frequently on Twitter. This list would have been created when Elon Musk had complained about the drop in popularity of his posts, the site indicates. Rolling Stone. By threatening the engineers with dismissal, the Twitter boss increased his own visibility on the platform.
So thirty “VIPs” shouldn’t need to sign up for the Twitter Blue subscription to keep their edge. As of April 1, the old accounts that were certified before the arrival of Elon Musk at the head of the company will see their blue badge disappear. Similarly, these privileged accounts should still appear in For You feed recommendations.
However, Platformer’s disclosure of the existence of this list conflicts with Elon Musk’s promises. Podcast host William Shatner (followed by 2.5 million people) has complained about losing his blue badge. The billionaire then responded that it was about “treating everyone the same.” Before adding: “In my opinion, there shouldn’t be different standards for celebrities.”
Source: BFM TV
