Twitter’s blue ticks were reinstated on some notable legacy accounts on Saturday.
Formerly, the check mark was a badge of authenticity given to notable accounts for free. Under the company’s new leadership, blue ticks must now be purchased by subscribers for N5,000 monthly.
Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, implemented a strategy, dubbed “Twitter Blue” to generate revenue after buying the company for $44 billion last year.
According to Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who tracks social-media platforms, only a tiny fraction of legacy verified accounts subscribed — less than 5 per cent of the 407,000 profiles affected on Thursday.
On Saturday, a number of celebrities like Wizkid and Davido regained their blue ticks, seemingly without action on their part.
LEADERSHIP reports that legacy verified accounts of notable people and organisations were removed on Thursday.
Twitter accounts whose blue ticks were restored now read “this account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number” while many of them claimed they did not pay to be subscribed.
The accounts of some dead celebrities with up to a million followers, such as Sound Sultan also received a blue tick.
