Martin Lewis has defended his decision to pay for a Twitter blue tick, as people unfollow the finance expert.
The social media giant stripped certain celebs and public figures of the authentication mark on Thursday. After scrapping the free feature last month, Twitter users must now pay to keep their "legacy" check marks that proves accounts are the real deal - by subscribing to Twitter Blue for £9.60 a month.
While many accounts refused to pay for a blue tick, financial journalist Martin Lewis has forked up the cash to keep his verification. The savings guru said he a good reason to, as he feels "obligated" as a money advisor.
The Money Saving Expert founder took to the site to defend his decision, after people told him they would be hitting the unfollow button. According to tweets, many believe that paying for the mark doesn't align with his budgeting ethos.
But Lewis has said that while he doesn't support paying for the Twitter Blue checkmark, he maintains that it is a necessity for him to prevent imposter accounts scamming vulnerable users. Lewis is known for offering his expertise on all things money, so fake accounts could use his image for financial gain.
Lewis tweeted on Friday: "To the few tweeting to tell me they're unfollowing because I paid for a Blue tick - that is of course your prerogative, do what u feel is right - but pls there's no need to notify me.
"I explained why I paid when I did (& it was useful ammunition when pushing Twitter to remove a fake 'verified' account of me)."
Prior to blue tick removal, Martin publicly announced that he would be paying to keep his and was transparent on why. On March 29, he wrote: "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."
In fact, Lewis previously ousted one of these fraudsters, prompting a warning to his followers over scam accounts. The profile, which is no longer active used Lewis' name and re-tweeted a lot of Martin's own tweets in order to look authentic.
Prior to being shut down, the imposter had over 23,000 followers and was solely giving advice on investing in cryptocurrency.
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