New Delhi: Micro-blogging site Twitter on Thursday removed the verified blue tick from many high-profile individuals' accounts in India including the Chief Ministers of several states. The only individual Twitter users who have verified blue checkmarks are those paying for Twitter Blue, which costs USD 8/month via the web and USD 11/month through the in-app payment on iOS and Android.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Andhra Paresh CM Jagan Reddy, Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhwinder Sukhu, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, Maharastra CM Eknath Shinde, Manipur CM N Biren Singh, CM Meghalaya Conrad Sangma, Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Sikkim CM P S Golay Tamang, and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal are among the political leaders who lost their Twitter verification badges.
However, several politicians such as Pema Khandu Arunachal Pradesh CM, Himanta Biswa Assam Cm, Bhupesh Baghel Chhattisgarh CM, Manohar Lal Haryana CM, Hemant Soren Jharkhand CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh CM, and Manik Saha Tripura CM's blue tick retained anchor. The other political figures who have lost the blue tick are Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi and besides them, several leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Congress also lost their verification badges.
From the Delhi government, CM Kejriwal along with LG VK Saxena and AAP leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj have lost the blue badge from their Twitter profile. Whereas in Rajasthan Government, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathod, Congress party's state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, BJP state president CP Joshi, Food Minister Pratapsinh Khachariawas, Sports Minister Ashok Chandna, as well as BJP's Rajasthan Twitter handle, lost the blue tick.
Earlier it was announced that the microblogging site would remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as notable before Elon Musk's takeover unless they have subscribed to Twitter Blue or the business-focused Twitter Verified Organizations plan, Variety reported. Initially, the blue tick served as a way of protecting well-known individuals from impersonation and tackling false information.
Earlier in March, Twitter posted from their official handle, "On April 1st, we will begin winding down our legacy verified program and removing legacy verified checkmarks. To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue.
Twitter first introduced the blue check mark system in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations and other accounts "of public interest" were genuine and not impostors or parody accounts. The company didn't previously charge for verification. Musk launched Twitter Blue with the check-mark badge as one of the premium perks within two weeks of the company's takeover last year.
