Many of Twitter’s high-profile users on Thursday are losing the blue “check marks” that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform.
After several false starts, Twitter began making good on its promise to remove the blue ticks from accounts that do not pay a monthly fee to keep them.
Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue-tick system — many of them journalists, athletes and public figures.
Profiles for the Pope, former president Donald Trump and US government departments appeared to be unverified as of Thursday afternoon.
The costs of keeping the ticks range from $8 a month for individual web users to a starting price of $1,000 monthly for organisations, plus $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account.
Twitter does not verify the individual accounts to ensure they are who they say they are, as was the case with the previous blue ticks doled out during the platform’s pre-Musk ownership.
Celebrity users, from basketball star LeBron James to Star Trek’s William Shatner, have baulked at joining the new system.
Actress Halle Berry on Wednesday evening tweeted an older video of her dancing and joining a talk show with the caption: “Me joining you all tomorrow unverified.”
After buying Twitter for $44 billion in October, Mr Musk has been trying to boost the struggling platform’s revenue by pushing more people to pay for a premium subscription.
But his move also reflects his assertion that the blue verification marks have become an undeserved or “corrupt” status symbol for elite personalities, news reporters and others granted verification free of charge by Twitter’s previous leadership.
Twitter began tagging profiles with a blue tick starting about 14 years ago.
Along with shielding celebrities from impersonators, one of the main reasons was to provide an extra tool to curb misinformation.
Most “legacy blue checks” are held by those who are not household names, including politicians, activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe.
One of Mr Musk’s first product moves after taking over Twitter was to launch a service granting blue ticks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month.
But it was quickly inundated by impostor accounts, including those impersonating Nintendo, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Mr Musk’s businesses Tesla and SpaceX, so Twitter had to temporarily suspend the service days after its launch.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
COMPANY%20PROFILE%3A
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The specs
Price: From Dh180,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 320hp @ 5,700rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Company%C2%A0profile
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Company%20Profile
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Naga
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
OPTA'S PREDICTED TABLE
1. Liverpool 101 points
2. Manchester City 80
3. Leicester 67
4. Chelsea 63
5. Manchester United 61
6. Tottenham 58
7. Wolves 56
8. Arsenal 56
9. Sheffield United 55
10. Everton 50
11. Burnley 49
12. Crystal Palace 49
13. Newcastle 46
14. Southampton 44
15. West Ham 39
16. Brighton 37
17. Watford 36
18. Bournemouth 36
19. Aston Villa 32
20. Norwich City 29