Twitter celebs baulk at paying Elon Musk for blue check mark

William Shatner, Monica Lewinsky and other prolific Twitter commentators — some household names, others little-known — could soon be losing the blue check marks that helped to verify their identity on the social media platform.

They could get the marks back by paying up to $11 a month. But some long-time users, including Star Trek legend Shatner, 92, have baulked at buying the premium service promoted by Twitter's billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk.

After months of delay, Mr Musk is promising that Saturday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who'd been verified for free to pay up or lose their legacy status.

"It will be glorious," he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Saturday is also April Fool's Day.

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 and news reporters.

One of Twitter's main reasons to mark profiles with a blue check mark, starting about 14 years ago, was to verify politicians, activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, and little-known journalists at small publications, to help curb misinformation from accounts that are impersonating people.

Ms Lewinsky tweeted a screenshot Sunday of all the people impersonating her, including at least one who appears to have paid for a blue check mark.

“What universe is this fair to people who can suffer consequences for being impersonated?" she said.

"A lie travels half way around the world before truth even gets out the door.”

Shatner, known for his irreverent humour, also tagged Mr Musk with a complaint about the promised changes.

“I’ve been here for 15 years giving my (clock emoji) and witty thoughts, all for bupkis,” he wrote. “Now you’re telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free?”

Mr Musk responded that there shouldn't be a different standard for celebrities.

“It’s more about treating everyone equally,” he tweeted.

For now, those who still have the blue check but apparently haven’t paid the premium fee have messages appended to their profile saying it is a “legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable".

They include Beyonce, Stephen King, Barack and Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, Tucker Carlson, Drake and Mr Musk himself.

One of his first product moves after taking over Twitter was to launch a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month.

But it was quickly inundated by imposter 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 relaunched service costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for iPhone and iPad users.

Subscribers are supposed to see fewer ads, be able to post longer videos and have their tweets featured more prominently.

Celebrities who've quit Twitter after Elon Musk takeover - in pictures

Gigi Hadid has deactivated her Twitter account following Elon Musk's takeover of the platform, saying 'it's becoming more and more of a cesspool of hate and bigotry with the new leadership'. AFP
Whoopi Goldberg said she was getting off Twitter because 'it’s so messy'. AP
Producer Shonda Rhimes quit the platform days after Elon Musk took over. Reuters
Actor and filmmaker Alex Winter's account has also been deactivated. AFP
Grammy-winning singer Sara Bareilles said Twitter was no longer for her. AP
Actor Amber Heard, who once dated Elon Musk, has also deactivated her account. AP
Singer Toni Braxton, who has also quit, said she was not comfortable with 'hate speech under the veil of free speech'. Alamy Stock Photo
Comedian Kathy Griffin's Twitter account was suspended after she changed her name to 'Elon Musk'. GC Images
'Avengers' star Mark Ruffalo has pleaded with Elon Musk to 'get off Twitter and get on with running Tesla and SpaceX'. AP

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Twitter celebs baulk at paying Elon Musk for blue check mark

Some Twitter commentators could lose their coveted blue marks

Celebrities who've quit Twitter after Elon Musk takeover - in pictures