Blue, grey, gold: What do Twitter’s new ticks mean?

Many government bodies have, however, got the grey tick, and prominent organisations, including media houses, have been offered a free yellow tick for a certain number of handles. (See later)

Twitter’s owner Elon Musk last year introduced a paid service called “Twitter Blue”, saying it would “democratise journalism and empower the voice of the people”. This essentially meant that the blue ticks, marking genuine accounts that had been verified by Twitter, would no longer be available, and anyone wanting the tick would have to pay for it.

Who has been impacted by Twitter’s move?

A DW report said around 300,000 users had the blue tick on their accounts before Musk ended the verification system on Thursday. Among prominent individuals who have lost their verification are pop icons Beyonce and Shakira, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and former US President Donald Trump (who is not currently active on Twitter).

However, three prominent celebrities, basketball great LeBron James, author Stephen King, and actor William Shatner who played Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek TV series, have kept their blue ticks without subscribing to the service. Musk said on Thursday that he was “personally paying” for their ticks.

Just Shatner, LeBron and King

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2023

In India, several government ministries such as the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) — which regulates platforms like Twitter in the country — have lost their blue ticks. The official handles of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Press Information Bureau are also no longer verified.

Film industry celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Alia Bhatt, and sportspersons like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Smriti Mandhana, and P V Sindhu, have lost their blue ticks. Amitabh Bachchan complained in Bhojpuri that his blue tick had not been restored even though he had paid for it.

T 4623 – ए twitter भइया ! सुन रहे हैं ? अब तो पैसा भी भर दिये हैं हम … तो उ जो नील कमल ✔️ होत है ना, हमार नाम के आगे, उ तो वापस लगाय दें भैया , ताकि लोग जान जायें की हम ही हैं – Amitabh Bachchan .. हाथ तो जोड़ लिये रहे हम । अब का, गोड़वा 👣जोड़े पड़ी का ??

— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 21, 2023

Prominent politicians including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath, Arvind Kejriwal, M K Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav, and Ashok Gehlot no longer have the ticks. Political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party, All India Trinamool Congress, CPI (M), and DMK’s Twitter profiles have also lost the verification marks.

Why is this happening?

Musk has decided that the blue ticks would be allowed only to those who pay a monthly fee for the Twitter Blue service. Under its previous owners, Twitter gave verified users the blue tick for free. The feature was introduced in 2014 to help distinguish public figures from impostor accounts and to tackle the spread of misinformation.

The blue tick no longer means that the account is verified, it only indicates that the particular user has a subscription to the service, and has given their phone number to Twitter.

Notably, this isn’t the first time that Twitter users have lost their blue tick. Musk launched the Twitter Blue service in November 2022 in some countries but met with a backlash. He had to also lower the price for the tick — in the beginning, Musk had proposed to charge $20 per month, but later made it $8. He was also forced to temporarily suspend the service after multiple impostor accounts, including some impersonating his own Tesla and SpaceX accounts, popped up on the platform.

In March this year, Twitter announced that it would finally start “winding down [the] legacy verified program and removing legacy verified check marks” from April 1. “To keep your blue checkmark on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue,” it said.

So how much does Twitter Blue cost?

In India, the Twitter Blue subscription comes for Rs 900 per month for both Android and iOS devices. For the web service, the cost is Rs 650 per month. Users can also choose an annual subscription for Rs 6,800 for the web service. The annual subscription cost on iOS and Android is Rs 9,400 per year.

And what do Twitter Blue users get for that price?

The blue tick was earlier an object of pride and envy for many — a sort of digital status symbol. Some of those who had it liked to flaunt it, many who did not have it despite large followings, complained of Twitter’s alleged arbitrariness.

The blue tick is now available to anyone who is willing to pay for it. Buyers of the service get some exclusive features such as “prioritised rankings in conversations and search” and the ability to write longer tweets — the buyer can “create Tweets, Replies and Quotes up to 10,000 characters long”.

How to distinguish a fake account from the original?

The blue tick now only indicates that the user has paid for the Twitter Blue service and provided their phone number. Therefore, it’s quite difficult to tell a fake account from the original if a Twitter Blue subscriber chooses to impersonate. One way to ensure that an account is a real person is to cross-reference other sources and websites — but this takes time and effort, and many people are likely to mistake a fake for a genuine account.

The social media platform has announced some measures to curtail impostor accounts, but their effectiveness remains to be seen. The Guardian reported, “Twitter has said that it will only put badges on accounts with a display name and profile photo, that have been active in the past 30 days and must be older than 30 days.”

“The company also says it will not put blue checkmarks on accounts that have recently changed profile photos, display names or usernames,” The Guardian report said.

What are the gold and grey ticks against some users’ profiles?

Twitter is giving grey ticks to government-related accounts — in India for example, the accounts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, etc. have grey ticks.

Many ministries and government departments have grey ticks — such as the Union ministries of finance, defence, home, and education; and organisations like the Delhi Police or Mumbai Police. However, not all government bodies have the grey tick — MeitY has neither the blue tick nor the grey tick, and BMC has a blue tick.

The gold tick “indicates that the account is an official business account through Twitter Verified Organizations,” according to Twitter. Companies such as Pepsi, McDonald’s and Burger King have gold ticks on their accounts. Some of the prominent media organisations like The Indian Express, NDTV and India Today are also tagged with these ticks.

Some verified organisations have been offered a gold tick for free for up to a certain number of associated handles. It is unclear if the grey tick is paid.