Key Highlights
- Twitter is restoring the blue ticks of some high-profile accounts earlier stripped.
- Some of the account owners have confirmed that they neither paid nor subscribed to Twitter Blue before the restoration.
- Elon Musk is yet to make any official comment on the restoration.
Twitter’s chief, Elon Musk is making a U-turn from his earlier decision to strip non-subscriber to Twitter Blue of their verification badges. Twitter is now returning the blue tick for popular celebrities, politicians, and influential personalities who have huge followership on the platform.
In Nigeria, top politicians including President-elect, Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, and Peter Obi, who had been earlier stripped now have their blue tick restored. Billionaires Tony Elumelu and Aliko Dangote have also had their badges restored.
Celebrities including popular singers Davido, Wizkid, and Tiwa Savage, among others have also become verified again after being stripped on Thursday.
While neither Twitter nor Elon Musk had made any comment regarding the restoration of some blue ticks even when the account owners had not subscribed, Nairametrics gathered that Musk was restoring the check mark for individuals with over 1 million followers.
Earlier in a tweet, Musk had said that he was paying for the Blue Ticks for LeBron James, Stephen King, and William Shatner. James has 52.7 million followers on Twitter while King has 7.1 million. Shatner has 2.5 million followers.
Celebrities confirmed blue tick was restored for free
While many of the personalities whose verified badges have been restored have not made a comment about it, some have taken to Twitter to confirm that the ticks were restored for free.
A Nigerian medical doctor with 2.1 million followers, who is popular for his medical tips on Twitter, @aprokodoctor, said:
- “I think Elon just decided to verify notable people at once because of the backlash. I remember when someone told me to pay N2m for verification, but I no dey give shi shi. Now see! Free of charge.”
Also reacting, a popular activist and politician, Aisha Yesufu, wondered if someone had paid for her to restore the blue tick. Tagging Twitter handles, Yesufu who has 1.8 million followers on the platform said:
- “Dear @Twitter @verified, this is not acceptable. I did not subscribe to Twitter Blue and find this extremely deceptive. It better not be that someone can pay on my behalf. That will be a breach of my privacy.”
An Indian politician with 3.2 million followers, Omar Abdullah also confirmed his blue tick was restored without subscribing to Twitter Blue. He tweeted:
- “Apparently, I’ve paid for Twitter Blue & given them a phone number to verify except that I haven’t. Mr. Musk are you paying for mine as well?”
In the last few days, there had been several unverified Twitter accounts of celebrities and top politicians as many refused to pay the $8 fee for the coveted blue tick. Celebrities with millions of followers were also not immune to the badge-stripping, until now. The latest moves by Musk to return some blue ticks appear to be an attempt to keep high-profile accounts on the platform and to stop celebrities from leaving.