• Twitter Blue-Tick: Blue Verified Badge of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan to Virat Kohli removed; Here's why

    Sci & Tech
    Twitter Blue-Tick: Blue Verified Badge of Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan to Virat Kohli removed; Here's why
    Several celebrities have now lost the coveted blue tick that includes SRK, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Virat Kohli...

    Digital Desk: Twitter has deleted historical blue verified badges from profiles that are not subscribed to Twitter Blue. Twitter users who were verified under the previous regime will lose the coveted blue tick if they do not pay by April 20 - 4/20 - as promised by business owner Elon Musk earlier this month. Twitter had planned to delete historical verified badges on April 1, but just a few users' profiles were affected.

    Reportedly, even now, some Twitter users have the Blue tick even if they have not paid for a Twitter Blue subscription. 

    Individual Twitter users who have verified blue checkmarks are those who pay for Twitter Blue, which costs USD 8 per month via the web and USD 11 per month via in-app payment on iOS and Android.

    Several Bollywood celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, and Alia Bhatt, and politicians such as CM Yogi Adityanath, Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, in the sports arena Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, PV Sindhu have lost their verified blue ticks from their Twitter accounts as a result of the recent development.

    Apart from the aforementioned, World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni, Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal, Neeraj Chopra, and Bajrang Punia, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, two-time World Boxing Champion Nikhat Zareen, Sania Mirza, Indian football team skipper Sunil Chhetri, and men's hockey custodian PR Sreejesh have all lost their blue ticks.

    Tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe, and basketball star Stephen Curry are all no longer "verified" on the social networking site. Other people who lost their verification badges were Pope Francis, former US President Donald Trump, and Microsoft Corp cofounder Bill Gates.

    On Thursday, Twitter, which was taken over by business magnate and Tesla CEO Elon Musk last year, removed the blue ticks from accounts that do not pay a monthly subscription fee for the service.

    "Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks," the official Twitter Verified account said on Wednesday.

    Old users who want to keep their status as verified must purchase a Twitter Blue subscription. Blue subscription pricing varies depending on the market. The subscription costs Rs 900 a month in India via iPhones and Android cellphones. The price drops to Rs 650 per month on the Twitter website. Users can also opt for a yearly subscription, which is less expensive.

    Only individuals and businesses who pay for the premium Twitter Blue subscription will now have the verified badge shown on their profiles.