The removal of Twitter’s historic blue badges generated a huge reaction. Many have lamented the loss of a guarantee of authenticity for personality profiles. Some have even called for Twitter Blue followers to be blocked. But at the same time, the platform awarded badges to hundreds of accounts, falsely claiming that they had paid to receive them.
This attribution has led to illustrious users complaining. This is what Stephen King had done, who had first received a subscription, paid for by Elon Musk himself. Some could not react to the return of his blue badge: celebrities who have been dead for several years.
A marketing asset
Among them: actor Chadwick Boseman (known for his role in Black Panther), basketball player Kobe Bryant and chef Anthony Bourdain. The American magazine Forbes was able to count about fifteen accounts about this case. On your Twitter profile, the blue button is displayed. By clicking on it, it is even possible to see: “this account is verified because you are a Twitter Blue subscriber and have verified your phone number”.
For its part, the specialized site Engadget ensures that the measure is “unclear”. Doubts persist about the free or paid assignment of these verification badges. According to the British newspaper The Independent, it could be to spread the blue tick in the most massive way possible.
The American site Business Insider is going in the same direction, evoking Twitter’s desire to popularize the paid offer, to convince Internet users to subscribe to the subscription billed at ten euros per month, like the blue badge that was also awarded. to Bob Marley.
Over the weekend, many accounts, especially with over a million subscribers, finally saw the blue badge reappear, again with a (fake) message claiming they’re paying for it. Unlike the previous and free version, this blue badge does not imply any identity verification.
Source: BFM TV
