Top Indian politicians among those who lost Twitter ‘blue tick’

Many high-profile individuals in India most have lost the blue mark after the subscription was implemented.

Twitter on Thursday removed the legacy “blue tick” verification badge for all the users who have not subscribed to the platform's paid service, which in India costs around ₹650 per month on the web and ₹900 on the mobile app.

Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and Yogi Adityanath were among those who lost "blue tick" badge on Twitter.

Many high-profile individuals in India, including numerous renowned celebrities and most chief ministers have lost the blue mark after the subscription was implemented. Notable names who have lost their verification badges include Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal, and West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee.

Additionally, other political figures such as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi of the Congress have also lost their verified status on Twitter due to the platform's new subscription-based verification policy.

The official Twitter handles of political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Congress also lost their verification badges.

Since being taken over by Elon Musk, Twitter has undergone significant changes in the way it verifies users with the coveted blue checkmarks. Previously, these badges were given to high-profile individuals, journalists, executives, politicians, and establishments after verifying their identities, serving as a symbol of their authenticity.

However, Musk has implemented new rules to incentivize users to subscribe to the platform's paid features, which he sees as critical to Twitter's future revenue growth. In a tweet last month, Musk highlighted a 50% drop in advertising revenue between October and March, indicating the need for alternative revenue streams.

Following the initial announcement of its plans to remove the old verification badges, Twitter, extended the deadline to Thursday to give verified users more time to decide whether to pay for the service.

According to news agency Reuters, at present, only a small fraction, approximately 1 per cent, of Twitter's users have subscribed to “Twitter Blue”.

For users who still had a blue check on Thursday, a popup message indicated that the account “is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.”

Among those losing their verification badges were Pope Francis, former US president Donald Trump, and Microsoft Corp cofounder Bill Gates.