Mumbai: I wonder if possessing the blue tick on Twitter or losing it, has any impact at all. Elon Musk had promised to do away with the much-desirable blue tick. He has done so, and this time, from ‘legacy’ verified Twitter accounts. On 20 April, many lost their verified status on Twitter, which could have sent many into a tizzy, but not everyone.
Indiantelevision.com had a chat with author and current affairs commentator Sandip Ghose who lost his blue tick, and business strategist and investor Lloyd Mathias with regard to what kind of an impact this decision would have and also whether it is just the moolah that Musk wants to rake in or is also looking at democratizing the social media platform.
Putting things into perspective, Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and many more, are among those who lost their Twitter blue ticks. Industrialists Ratan Tata and Anand Mahindra, too, have been un-verified on Twitter, as have several politicians like Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
As of now, only the Twitter users who pay an $8 monthly fee for a Twitter Blue subscription have the blue check mark next to their names – with a few exceptions. Musk mentioned that he is personally paying for Twitter Blue subscriptions for some celebrities so they can keep their blue checks.
The Tesla billionaire is paying for the Twitter Blue subscriptions of Canadian actor William Shatner, NBA star LeBron James and author Stephen King – who had got into a row with Musk about his plans to charge for verification.
Meanwhile, there are several celebrities, business leaders and politicians who have retained their Twitter blue ticks, either by paying for a subscription or through the benefit of being affiliated with an organisation.
For example, the Twitter account of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is verified because “it’s an affiliate of Amazon on Twitter.” Contrarywise, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Apple CEO Tim Cook have paid for subscriptions and verified their phone numbers so their accounts are still verified.
Along with Ghose, industry veterans such as Suhel Seth, have also lost their blue tick.
Chalo. @AdvaitaKala ka bhi gaya! Blue tick aur Internet.
— SUHEL SETH (@Suhelseth) April 20, 2023
The impact
Ghose believes that don’t expect much of an impact. “People engage more for content than the tick. In fact, blue tick often became troll bait. Many important people didn’t apply for blue Ticks while for others it was a bragging right!”
“Twitter in any case is a great leveller blue tick or no blue tick. Social Media has brought many celebs down to dust – who earlier went unchallenged for their views aired through op-eds or TV – while providing a platform to many (like me) who would not have been allowed to enter the ‘haloed circle’ by self-appointed gatekeepers. Doing away with blue ticks ends artificial class distinction,” he emphasizes.
It’s because of her that we all lost the #BlueTick only @Iyervval was spared because he has protection of the SC
— GhoseSpot (@SandipGhose) April 21, 2023
Mathias elaborates, “Post taking over Twitter Elon Musk stated that he wanted to monetize Twitter better and one of the first things he planned was to charge for blue ticks. After a series of missteps and the creation of grey check marks (for government organisations) and gold check marks (for business accounts), Twitter has finally decided to do away with the legacy blue ticks for now only paid for blue ticks.”
He understands that for now it will have a few well-known people without blue ticks, as they will refuse to pay the $8 fee – as it is not something they crave for. “Many others will pay for the additional service for Twitter Blue features including the ability to edit tweets, longer tweets with formatting, and fewer ads – though this doesn’t necessarily mean the account is notable or reliable.”
“There will be a short-term furore but things will settle down soon enough. The ‘premium’ perception that the blue tick account enjoyed as a person of importance will disappear. This may bruise a few celebrity egos,” Mathias points out.
Musk’s intentions: Raking in moolah or democratization?
“Monetization is unlikely to yield much revenue for Twitter. It’s a good way to make people for a service – which they value (for business, official or professional needs – or simply for vanity),” Ghose brings out.
Mathias deciphers this decision to be a bit of both. “He obviously wants to monetize Twitter where he’s sunk $44 billion. But he also wants to open Twitter up to wider services given that it is used by many, including journalists and public figures, for various reasons – public announcements, shaping opinion, building narratives and subtle commerce.”
He adds, “He also has believed and has stated numerous times that Twitter cannot be controlled by a select few that make many call him a free speech absolutist.”
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