Philip Neto, Lula e LeBron James say they won’t pay for the blue Twitter badge. According to Twitter itself, the blue check mark that is usually granted to personalities with some notoriety in society, will no longer be granted automatically. Starting today, April 1st, all users who had the badge will need to subscribe to Twitter Blue to remain verified.
Twitter Blue becomes mandatory to have the blue seal
O Twitter Blue was the subscription plan created by the social network that gives access to benefits such as the ability to edit tweets, see fewer ads and of course, get the blue check mark. In Brazil, The subscription fee is BRL 42 per month. Organizations, businesses, and government agencies can pay up to $1,000 to be verified.
However, the government of Lula it’s at White House were some of the organizations that confirmed that they will not join Twitter Blue and will only keep their gray badges provided free of charge. Many high-profile people have said they won’t be subscribing to Twitter Blue, including LeBron James and Felipe Neto, who have 52.8 million and 16 million followers respectively.
The blue badge was initially intended to help reduce the problem of people impersonating the platform and to verify accounts of artists, sportsmen, journalists and opinion leaders in general. However, it has been criticized for its symbolic status and its value now that it can be bought.
Do you believe that Twitter won’t bend over backwards to keep verification only for those who pay?