Twitter began the mass removal of its blue ticks on Thursday, as the symbol previously used to signify a verified account vanished from users including the Pope, Donald Trump and Justin Bieber.
Due to the recent development, several B-town celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt and politicians like CM Yogi Adityanath, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma among others have lost their verified blue ticks from their Twitter accounts.
Earlier it was announced that the microblogging site will remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had verified as notable before Elon Musk`s takeover unless they have subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan.
Musk, who has seen his $44 billion investment in the site shrivel, earlier pledged to get rid of what he described as a “lords & peasants system.”
He offered instead to sell the blue badge to anyone who would pay $8 a month, in a move he said last year would “democratize journalism & empower the voice of the people.”
Earlier dates set for the rollback of the ticks – predominately used by celebrities, journalists and politicians – have slipped by without noticeable action.
