Days after the business deleted them for all users save for subscribers who had paid for them, a number of Twitter accounts have their blue tick marks back.
According to TechCrunch, the symbol, formerly known as the stamp of authenticity before Elon Musk gained control of Twitter, has reportedly come back for accounts with more than one million followers.
However, several people who received their authenticity stamp returned said they did not pay for it. This went against Mr. Musk’s declaration that only accounts with a Twitter Blue subscription would receive blue markings.
What are the requirements to receive the coveted blue mark, users wonder? But nobody knows the solution.
The requirement for having more than a million followers also seemed arbitrary. Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, doesn’t have the badge despite having over a million followers.
According to TechCrunch, a programmer by the name of Travis Brown examined accounts with more than a million followers and discovered that roughly 110 of them lacked the verification mark.
The reemergence of blue ticks are not only puzzling but also, in some ways, eerie. The emblem has also been returned for the accounts of deceased celebrities. A pop-up appears when you hover your cursor over the badge and it states: “This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”
Among the numerous departed celebrities to date, Michael Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Barbara Walters, and Anthony Bourdain are just a few.
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The ‘verified’ fakes
Twitter also gave the blue mark to a fake Disney and an MTV account.
According to the BBC, the account, called @DisneyJuniorUK, was tweeting slurs and profanities but managed to get a gold tick, granted only to organisations who apply for it.
Similarly, a parody Twitter account branding itself after MTV’s game show The Challenge was given a gold check mark after posting videos and images of violence, Deadline reported.
With Twitter Blue, Mr. Musk had the opportunity to increase the company’s cash flow after purchasing it last year.
Individual Twitter blue subscriptions, which include a blue tick, cost $8 each. According to TechCrunch, the cost for organisations was $1,000 with an additional $50 for associated accounts of its subsidiaries and staff.
Numerous people pointed out over the weekend that the $1,000 cost was non-refundable even if the account’s application was denied.
However, examination reveals that Twitter Blue didn’t exactly perform as Mr. Musk had hoped. In the first three months following its inception in December, the scheme only generated $11 million in revenue from mobile subscribers, according to an analysis, said TechCrunch.
