Twitter Check-Mark Purge Commences: Take That, Pope Francis



On Thursday, Elon Musk finally began his previously announced, then delayed, purge of blue check marks for account holders not willing to pay $8 per month for its new Twitter Blue subscription service — although, in a by-now unsurprising pattern, the application is inconsistent.

The many high-profile users who lost their verification check marks yesterday include Pope Francis, Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, JK Rowling, Democratic House representative Ilhan Omar, and news figures including CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

Some of those not yet de-check-marked include Georgia Republican House representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, actor William Shatner, NBA star LeBron James and novelist Stephen King. Musk confirmed that he is personally paying for complimentary Twitter Blue subscriptions for “a few” account holders, including Shatner, James and King.

Twitter — which since 2009 had been using an unspecified internal system to assign the check marks at no charge to verify that some accounts do indeed belong to entertainers, athletes, companies, government agencies and other high-profile entities — is turning the marks into a money-making enterprise as part of Musk’s push to generate new revenue for the heavily in-debt social media platform, which lost more than half of its largest advertisers after Musk’s takeover last fall.

Twitter now defines verified accounts as “verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

King was quick to distance himself from any misunderstanding. “My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t,” King tweeted. “My Twitter accounts says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t.”

To which Musk replied: “You’re welcome namaste”.

The inconsistency of the purge, at least initially, along with growing irritation about the new pay-for status and concern about this potentially increasing confusion and misinformation on the platform, has some users quitting the platform or declaring that they are proud to be among the de-verified.

“It is amazing how within a few months Elon Musk turned the blue check mark from a ‘status symbol’ to ‘THIS MF’ER PAID FOR TWITTER,'” tweeted comedian and documentary maker W. Kamau Bell. “It has become an object of utter mockery. Quite a remarkable achievement, really.”

L.A. Times reporter Matt Pearce tweeted: “Farewell to the blue check. It’s an honor to be distrusted by this platform,” and “lol the blue check is a punishment now.”

The inconsistency apparently also extends beyond who's being purged and who isn't. The check marks are being removed through a mostly manual process, and the system behind the process is prone to breaking, reported NBC News, adding that some users reported seeing their marks repeatedly disappear and reappear yesterday.

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