Twitter removes legacy 'blue ticks'; Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma lose verification

(Source - Twitter)

Twitter users noticed a strange change in the profiles of Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Rohit Sharma on Friday morning. All three lost their Twitter verified badge, or Blue Tick, due to the platform's new verification guidelines. The check mark was initially created to protect prominent people against impersonation and misinformation, but now anyone can get it by paying a subscription fee.

The move is a part of the legacy verification tick removal process, and the official Twitter account tweeted yesterday that it is going to remove the Blue Tick from all the verified accounts. Elon Musk-owned company stated that subscribing is the only way to retain the verified tick mark on profiles.

The American social media company started the removal process last year when it introduced an eight dollars per month subscription fee for Twitter Blue. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, recently said that he himself pays the amount for the subscription. More than 300,000 Twitter users reportedly had a Blue Tick before Musk started the new verification system.

Apart from Kohli, Dhoni and Rohit, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo have also lost their verification mark. Not only sports stars, all celebrities including actors have also fallen victim to Twitter's new policy.

First time in Twitter History

Celebrities without Blue tick 😊 pic.twitter.com/NmrmKVrQEd

— Ayyappan (@Ayyappan_1504) April 20, 2023

What is Twitter 'Blue Tick' and what are its other features?

Twitter blue tick or Twitter Blue is a paid subscription service that offers a verified checkmark on users’ profiles. Previously, it was only given to accounts of sports stars, famous actors, politicians, journalists and other public figures. The service is available on iOS and Android devices as well as on Twitter’s website. In India, the monthly subscription rate for iOS and Android users is Rs 900, Rs 650 for web users, and Rs 6,800 for an annual plan that is only available on the web.

The subscribers will have also features like editing tweets, creating bookmark folders, customising app icons and NFT profile pictures, and selecting different colour themes for their app. They can prioritize replies to tweets and undo tweets before they are visible to other users. While other users are limited to 280 characters, Twitter Blue subscribers can have a 4,000-character limit and can upload videos up to 60 minutes or 2 GB in size.