Is Twitter offering ‘blue ticks’ to users with a million followers for free?

Over the weekend, several Twitter users with reportedly over a million followers were surprised to find that their Blue Check verification badges, which had disappeared during Elon Musk’s recent purge of legacy verified accounts, had been reinstated. However, many of these users were not pleased with the sudden change, as they do not support Twitter Blue – the subscription service that offers additional features to users for a monthly fee.

Several high-profile celebrities worldwide, including Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, cricketers Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, comedian Vir Das, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, and former US President Donald Trump – who was previously banned from the platform – have reported their blue ticks reappearing on their Twitter profiles.

On Saturday, the blue verification badges were reinstated on certain accounts, but it can be misleading to assume that these accounts are verified simply because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue, the $8 per month premium service. It is worth noting that Twitter Blue replaced the previous free verification process that was implemented to prevent misinformation and impersonation on the platform.

Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted that his Twitter account had been verified with a blue tick again, even though he had not paid for Twitter Blue. Journalist Rana Ayyub also reported that her verified status had been restored without her subscribing to Twitter Blue.

“???? I‘ve got a check again. I didn’t even mind eventually paying, but somehow I got bucketed into the paying protestor camp before I could do anything. Twitter, you’re wild ????,” Aron Levie, a twitter user wrote on the microblogging platform.

Another twitter user by the name RAE (@Valkyrae) called the microblogging platform a liar. She tweeted, “I didn’t pay for verification or verify my number lol.. Twitter is lying.”

It is worth noting that the blue verification badges have been given to accounts belonging to individuals who are deceased, such as Anthony Bourdain, Chadwick Boseman, and Kobe Bryant. This is a concerning issue, as these individuals are obviously unable to provide their consent for the verification process. Despite this, these accounts have still received the paid blue checks.

Twitter has recently implemented a policy of removing blue verification badges from users who do not have a subscription to their premium service, Twitter Blue. However, it appeared that some users are exempt from this rule, particularly celebrities such as LeBron James and Stephen King. King recently shared on Twitter that despite not subscribing to Twitter Blue, he still had a blue tick on his account and had not provided his phone number. In response, Musk commented, “You are welcome, namaste.”