What do the Pope, Donald Trump and Beyoncé have in common? They all three lost their blue tick on Thursday Twitter, once a pledge of credibility, as the platform finally followed through on Elon Musk’s threat and removed the badge from those who refuse to pay. The social network was rapidly changing pace as accounts lost this distinctive mark, obtained in the past after verifying the identity of the user and subject to certain conditions, including notoriety.
Even the Twitter co-founder’s account was stripped
The badge has thus disappeared from the accounts of personalities such as Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bill Gates or Lady Gaga, as well as those of many journalists, professors and activists. Even @jack, the account of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has been stripped. On the political side, many elected officials have also lost it, but some have obtained the gray check mark, reserved for government accounts or certain organizations. This is the case of Kevin McCarthy, the boss of the Republicans in the American House of Representatives.
The blue badge now signals users who pay eight dollars a month to have this distinction and other advantages of “Twitter Blue” (more visibility, technical privileges, fewer ads), such as Donald Trump Junior or the Dalai Lama. “I know I’m going to be judged because I have the blue tick, but too bad, I need the button to edit my tweets”, tweeted Marques Brownlee, a content creator followed by 6 million users. .
Others expressed their astonishment, such as bestselling author Stephen King, followed by 7 million people. “My Twitter account says I subscribed to Twitter Blue. That’s wrong. My Twitter account says that I gave a phone number (for authentication, editor’s note). That’s wrong,” he said. he said on the platform on Thursday. “Please, namaste,” replied Elon Musk. The boss said in another tweet that he was “personally paying for a few subscriptions.”
Gone is the mention “affiliated to the State”
In another controversial change linked to the new authentication system, the words “state-affiliated” and “government-funded” were removed Friday from major media pages, including that of US public radio. NPR, which had recently quit Twitter in protest. “State-funded media organizations with editorial independence, such as the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US, are not defined as state-affiliated media,” Twitter said on its reporting center. ‘aid.
“Twitter verified”, the account for the paid subscription to Twitter Blue, warned on Wednesday that the social network would withdraw the next day the blue badges obtained before Elon Musk bought the company at the end of October and imposed his vision. contrary to the previous philosophy. “To stay authenticated on Twitter, individuals can subscribe to Twitter Blue here,” the official account said. The date was not chosen at random: April 20, pronounced 4/20 in English, is synonymous with cannabis in the United States. And the boss of Tesla and SpaceX loves jokes on this subject, to the point of having bought the platform at 54.20 dollars per share.
Power to the people” ?
The multi-billionaire had to try several times to launch Twitter Blue, causing cacophony and confusion. In November, he said he wanted to “give more power to the people” and abolish “the current system of lords and peasants, between those who have the blue tick and those who do not”. “Messages from verified accounts will be displayed by default”, he had detailed, while tweets from people who have not paid will be treated a bit like “spam” on an email box – a folder that we “can always go to consult”.
According to him, the subscription must also make it possible to fight against false profiles and automated accounts, and to diversify income, while many brands have fled the platform. Between November and January, half of the top 30 advertisers on Twitter had stopped buying ad space there, according to Pathmatics.
Brands are reluctant to spend on a platform “where chaos, arbitrary change and uncertainty reign,” Jasmine Enberg of Insider Intelligence explained last week. According to this research firm, Twitter’s revenue will fall by 28% this year. And the analyst doesn’t think Twitter Blue will make up for the shortfall. “The blue tick is no longer a guarantee of credibility”, since anyone can pay for it, she pointed out.