On Twitter, Elon Musk introduced a paid verification model in which users had to pay $8 per month for their blue ticks. This also meant that other users could now purchase the blue ticks indicating verification for a few dollars. This caused havoc on Twitter when several fake accounts of famous people and brands began tweeting, and people mistook them for the real thing because of the blue ticks.
When a large number of imposter accounts began using verified checkmarks from Twitter’s Blue paid subscription service to post misleading tweets while posing as some of the world’s biggest brands, it caused such havoc that Elon Musk appeared to have no choice but to revoke the paid checkmarks entirely.
“Basically, fooling people is not OK,” Musk tweeted, as some users reported that the option to pay $7.99 for a Twitter’s Blue subscription had gone, while others who had previously been verified discovered that their “Official” blue check marks had been restored.
The paid blue ticks model only lasted 48 hours, but it produced some spectacular memes for our entertainment:
Jane Manchun Wong, a tech blogger, was among those looking for answers about the status of Twitter Blue, tweeting, “Checked with Twitter’s API, and the in-app purchase for Twitter Blue Verified is no longer listed for production.”
There are much more tweets like these, and Elon Musk has announced the relaunch of Twitter’s Blue Check.
