Chrissy Teigen, Dionne Warwick and rapper Ice-T are among the many stars who refuse to spend $8 a month on Twitter’s blue check endorsement badge.
24 hours before the social networking site officially starts charging the one-time free badge, scores of celebrities have taken to the platform to reveal they have no intention of paying for the subscription.
That includes the wife of John Legend, 37, who hilariously tweeted: “Oh my god just tick the box who cares.”
“I’m not paying for a blue check. That money could (and will) go towards my extra hot lattes,” mused Warwick, 82, who is known for her clever jokes on Twitter.
In December, the music legend expressed skepticism about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his “true intention” in an interview with People.
Meanwhile, LeBron James hilariously joked that he was too cheap to pay for the tick that serves to authenticate his profile to the world.
“Guess my blue will be gone soon because if you know me I don’t count the 5,” he told his 52.8million followers on Thursday.
End of an era: Twitter will officially start removing blue ticks from users who don’t pay to do so on April 1st
Ice T also commented on the matter, stating he’s admitted he doesn’t really understand why this tick “makes any difference to some people” in the first place.
Twitter will officially start removing blue ticks from users who don’t pay for it on April 1st.
These “legacy” ticks appear on accounts where the owner had verified their identity before Musk acquired the platform in October.
A few months later, the new CEO launched Twitter Blue – a subscription service that gives users the same verification stamp in exchange for a monthly payment of £11 in the UK and $11 in the US.
This was an attempt to abolish what he saw as a “Lords and Peasants system for those who do or do not have a blue tick”.
While it’s unclear if this is an April Fool’s joke orchestrated by Mr. Musk, who isn’t afraid to joke, the announcement was made last night by the official Twitter Verified account.
“On April 1st, we will begin to retire our old verified program and remove old verified ticks,” it said.
Users were quick to respond, expressing disappointment with the update and despair that there will be yet another change to the platform.
One user said, “I feel really bad for the people who are left on Twitter who have to put out these updates.”
Hilarious: Teigen told Twitter to just “check the box already”
Handy: Meanwhile, LeBron James joked he was too cheap to pay for the tick used to authenticate his profile to the world
It’s not worth it: Ice T also had his say on the matter, explaining that he admitted he doesn’t really understand why this tick “makes any difference to some people” in the first place.
Not her first complaint: In December, the music legend expressed skepticism about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and his “true intention” in an interview with People.
Big night: Just hours after her tweet, Warwick was honored at Bowie State
Wow: The singer looked emotional while visiting the campus theater named after her
Others added: “This is such an awful change” and “Great April Fool’s joke”.
The announcement also includes instructions on how users can sign up for Twitter Blue or how businesses can sign up for “Verified Organizations.”
This is another subscription service that adds a gold or gray verification badge to an organization’s account for a cool £950 a month.
Gold ticks denote verified business accounts, while gray ticks denote accounts that represent a government entity or official.
Businesses can also pay an extra £50 per month to receive an ‘Affiliation Badge’ showing the Twitter profile photo of an affiliated brand, support name, employee or related team.
Introduced in December, this system of colored ticks and badges, while causing widespread confusion, did not require organizations with legacy ticks to pay for a subscription service in order to keep it.
In fact, all accounts that had a blue tick under the previous regime and are not logged into Twitter Blue have a message that pops up when the tick is clicked.
It says the account is an “old verified account” and “may or may not be notable.”
Now it looks like those are going to be phased out, as ticking the box without paying for a subscription service will no longer be an option starting next month.
Twitter Blue currently costs £9.60 ($8 in the US) per month in the UK for web access and £11 ($11 in the US) per month for use with Apple iOS.
This is believed to allow for the “30% hidden tax” imposed on in-app purchases within Apple-hosted apps.
Subscribers are offered a number of features not available to regular account holders, including the ability to edit tweets after posting.
This has long been requested by many users, although others argue that it increases the potential for the spread of disinformation, as a tweet could be altered after being widely circulated.
Twitter said Blue subscribers would also see fewer ads, boost their tweets about others, and be able to post and watch longer videos with better quality.
Twitter says it will start removing blue ticks from users who don’t pay for them on April 1st. These “legacy” ticks appear on accounts where the owner had verified their identity prior to Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform in October
While it’s unclear if it’s a prank orchestrated by Mr Musk, who doesn’t shy away from a joke, the announcement was made by the official Twitter Verified account last night
Upon his acquisition, Mr Musk told advertisers he wanted Twitter to become a “digital marketplace” but not “a free-for-all hellscape where anything can be said without consequences.”
As part of this, he wanted to delete bot accounts and restore freedom of speech and trust in the platform.
Before his regime, Twitter gave free blue ticks to verify high-profile accounts and prove their authenticity.
In December, after a long delay, Mr Musk launched Twitter Blue – a subscription service that gives users a blue tick to verify for a monthly fee.
However, users quickly took advantage of this as accounts impersonating famous people and companies, including Mr Musk himself, flooded the platform.
One user tricked others into thinking that former US President Donald Trump tweeted, “That’s why Elon Musk’s plan isn’t working.”
Introduced in December, this system of colored ticks and badges, while causing widespread confusion, did not require organizations with legacy ticks to pay for a subscription service in order to keep it
Twitter Blue first launched in early November, but users quickly took up the option to buy a tick. Accounts impersonating famous people and companies, including Mr. Musk himself, flooded the platform
Another account impersonated former President George W. Bush — who appeared to post a sickening tweet about Iraq — and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
This forced the second richest man in the world to halt the verification process, but not before advertisers had withdrawn their contracts.
Twitter Blue was relaunched the following month, with new systems for marking different types of verified accounts, such as: B. Multicolored ticks.
Since then, other new features have been introduced for subscribers, including the ability to post tweets of up to 4,000 characters.
In January it was reported that at least two Taliban officials had begun paying for Twitter Blue to obtain verification.
THE LONG WAY TO THE TWITTER ACQUISITION OF ELON MUSK – AND THE CHAOS THAT FOLLOWED
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter all began on April 4, when Musk announced a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, becoming the company’s largest shareholder.
The richest person in the world then agreed to join Twitter’s board of directors, only to have a last-minute fight back and instead offer to buy the company for $54.20 a share.
Twitter later accepted the offer in April, but the following month Musk said the deal was on hold pending a review of the bot accounts.
His lawyers then accused Twitter of not complying with his requests for information on the subject.
The acrimony led to Musk telling Twitter on July 8 that he was exiting the deal, and four days later, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the acquisition.
Twitter accused Musk of buyer’s remorse, arguing he wanted out of the deal because he thought he overpaid.
On Oct. 4, Musk did another U-turn, offering to close the deal as promised. He managed to do this a day before the deadline to avoid a trial.
Since becoming an owner, Musk – who also runs Tesla and SpaceX – has wasted no time making significant changes to Twitter, including firing top executives and dissolving the board of directors.
He’s also confirmed that Twitter users have to pay $8 a month to have a blue tick next to their account name, and calls the current “Lords and Peasants” system “bulls**t.”
Musk had previously considered a $20-per-month review fee for blue ticks, but appeared to lower the cost following criticism from horror author Stephen King, among others.
Musk has also previously announced his intention to form a Content Moderation Council with “very diverse viewpoints.”
“No major content decisions or account restorations will be made before this council meets,” he said.
He also reportedly brought more than 50 of his Tesla employees, who mostly worked on the electric carmaker’s Autopilot team, to review and work on the code for Twitter.