Twitter has reinstated the blue tick verification badge for some high-profile accounts with over 1 million followers, without requiring them to subscribe to the premium Twitter Blue service. Among the accounts that have had their blue ticks restored are those of Beyoncé, Harry Kane, Richard Osman, and Victoria Beckham, as well as the BBC News Twitter account. The blue tick was originally introduced as a tool of authentication to combat fake accounts and the spread of misinformation. However, it has now become a symbol of a Twitter Blue subscription, which requires payment of around $8 per month and includes a verification process.
Users who were previously verified through the original verification process and chose not to subscribe to Twitter Blue began losing their blue ticks on April 20. However, it appears that some accounts with fewer than 1 million followers have also had their blue ticks restored, at the discretion of Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk.
Some high-profile accounts, such as that of actor Ryan Reynolds, with over 21 million followers, still do not have a blue tick badge. Musk has claimed to have paid for subscriptions on behalf of author Stephen King, actor William Shatner, and basketball player LeBron James, who all criticized the new scheme.
Twitter Blue has had a difficult start, with its launch delayed due to fake accounts posing as official organizations. Recently, both subscribers and verified accounts have been difficult to distinguish, with subscribers enjoying higher visibility for their tweets, longer individual posts, and fewer ads.
Musk has previously stated that Twitter was losing $4 million per day when he took over, and the company has not disclosed how many people have subscribed to Twitter Blue. Sensor Tower estimated that the platform had around 386,000 subscribers in March 2023, but this is still a small fraction of its roughly 300 million user base.
