Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Bill Gates, Beyonce, Cristiano, Salah, and Kim Kardashian Lose Twitter Blue Tick


Fri 21 Apr 2023 | 05:27 AM
Taarek Refaat

Twitter removed blue verification ticks from the accounts of users who got them for free, before billionaire Elon Musk acquired the platform.

Musk, announced a few days ago the date of April 20, to remove all free authentication tags from user accounts around the world.

A large number of celebrities lost the authentication mark on their personal accounts, such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former US President Donald Trump, as well as reality TV star Kim Kardashian and famous singer Justin Bieber.

Twitter had launched the authentication system for personal accounts since 2009, after the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team coach was impersonated by an unknown person creating a fake account in his name on the tweet platform.

The coach sued Twitter and demanded millions of dollars in compensation. The platform reached a settlement that included radical amendments to protect users, including the account authentication system.

Since Musk took control of Twitter, the authentication mark has shifted from being evidence of the true identity of the verified account holder, to a paid feature within the "Twitter Blue" service package, which costs $8 per month.

Stars who have lost their blue ticks, and have yet to sign up for Twitter Blue, include Victoria Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jay-Z, Prince William and Princess Kate.

Ricky Gervais, Mason Mount, Naomi Campbell, Cheryl Tweedy, Lady Gaga, Piers Morgan and Harry Styles are some of the others who are no longer verified.

Also, Egyptian Singer Amr Diab, and football star Mo Salah were from the officials accounts who lost their verification.

Meantime, Microsoft said its social media planning and scheduling tools for advertisers will no longer support Twitter, after the Elon Musk-owned social network began charging for access to its programming interface.

Musk responded to the ad by accusing Microsoft of using Twitter's data "illegally" and threatening a lawsuit.