The entertainment world has reacted after losing their verified blue ticks on Twitter. The blue legacy checkmarks have been a part of the social media site for years, indicating that someone in the public eye, such as celebrities, leaders, and journalists, were authentic.
However, Twitter has moved to axe the famous blue ticks as it continues to push people towards signing up for a premium subscription called Twitter Blue, at a cost of £8 per month. The social media site confirmed it would be removing legacy verified checkmarks on Thursday, April 20, marking the end of an era.
Some famous users with huge followings have lost their blue ticks, including Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, JK Rowling, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Gareth Bale, as did Prince William and Kate Middleton on their shared Kensington Royal account. A number of celebrities appear to have subscribed to Twitter Blue, however, with Gary Lineker, Holly Willoughby and Martin Lewis all keeping their verified status.
Read more: Twitter finally removes legacy blue ticks almost three weeks after plan first announced
Last month, the money saving expert told his followers: "I've just paid for Twitter Blue verification, but pls don't read-across that this is a recommendation, or support for the changes. I'm in a peculiar position that scammers commonly impersonate me to steal from the vulnerable, so I feel obligated to do it to reduce that risk."
And as celebrities lost their blue tick on Thursday, April 20, many of them took to the social media platform to react. Comedian Ricky Gervais wrote: "My blue tick has gone. I'm not sure if I'm really me or not," while presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly wrote: "It's all ticking off!"
Meanwhile, Piers Morgan, who boasts 8.4 million followers on the platform, wrote: "BREAKING: I’m pondering the removal of my blue tick by @elonmusk and will make a decision about what I will do…. tomorrow", as Richard Osman said: "Farewell blue tick, old friend."
Celebrity chef Ainsley Harriot wrote: "Well, farewell legacy blue tick. At least it did let people know it was my verified account so this is just to say please be careful on any fake accounts and potential scams. Have a happy evening everyone - with or without your tick."
As well as removing blue ticks for non-subscribers, Twitter has also introduced gold and grey checkmarks. According to the site, the gold checkmark indicates that the account is an official business account through Twitter Verified Organizations.
While the grey checkmark indicates that an account represents a government/multilateral organization or a government/multilateral official. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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