Twitter will remove the blue badge from public figures: serious mistake


The Twitter Blue subscription, still offered between 9.60 and 11 euros per month in France, will soon be the only way to be certified on Twitter (in addition to company certification). This change could cause chaos on the social network, on which it will be impossible to distinguish a real account from a fake account.

Should we believe Elon Musk when he announces that he will remove the blue badge from all accounts that do not pay the 1er april ? The date can create doubts (the “troll-in-chief” is without a doubt an April Fools’ follower), but it is above all Elon Musk’s behavior that questions. The entrepreneur has repeatedly threatened to do the same in recent months and, since joining Twitter in late 2022, has regularly made dated promises that never come.

However, according to tweets posted by Elon Musk and by official Twitter accounts on March 23, accounts certified before the launch of the Twitter Blue subscription will lose their blue badge on March 1.er April, since Elon Musk wants to make an algorithm change so that only paid accounts are highlighted on the platform. If that really happens, the public debate could completely change in a few days.

Who will lose their certification?

If Elon Musk is telling the truth, the accounts still certified on 1er April will be:

  • Government accounts, with a gray badge.
  • The accounts of eligible brands, since not all of them have yet managed to be certified, with a golden badge.
  • The accounts of paying subscribers to Twitter Blue (9.60-11 euros per month in France, Twitter cheats on VAT), with a blue badge.
  • Accounts certified by a company ($1,000 per month + $50 per account), such as a football team that wants to certify its players.
To be certified, you will soon have to pay (and wait 7 days). // Source: Capture Numerama

All people certified for free using their identity papers, because their activity is public and it was important to be able to authenticate them on Twitter, should suddenly lose their blue badge on 1er april. Elon Musk says he considers the old system unfair and starts from the fact that “we get what we pay for”. For him, a journalist who wants the blue badge and who wants to go back in the answers must imperatively pay it every month. Otherwise, he must fall back into anonymity.

Soon total chaos on Twitter?

The impossibility of easily distinguishing a real certified account from a Twitter Blue account has already been a problem for several weeks, while several controversial accounts, such as conspirators, have massively bought blue badges to spread misinformation. Tomorrow, if it’s just Twitter Blue accounts with a blue badge, Twitter might be an even weirder social network.

In the case of public figures, such as a celebrity, one wonders how Twitter is going to reassure them and make them want to use a platform that makes them look like a banal account if they don’t pay, whereas any impersonator could impersonate her easily. In the case of the football example cited above, should we really imagine that all clubs will pay thousands of dollars every month to Twitter just to certify their players, without any other benefit? This business model is strange and puts money before security.

Today, Kylian Mbappé is certified with the old system.  As it stands, that means he will lose his badge on April 1.  // Source: Numerama
Today, Kylian Mbappé is certified with the old system. As it stands, that means he will lose his badge on April 1. // Source: Numerama

What will really happen on 1er april ? At best, we can hope for an Elon Musk joke. Otherwise, it is to be hoped that another system is put in place to authenticate a public figure, for example with a subtitle on his profile. But Elon Musk has proven that it is difficult to predict.


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