Two years ago, Elon Musk launched 'Twitter Blue' with a ghastly logo design and a promise to end Twitter’s "lords & peasants system" by offering blue checkmarks to anyone prepared to pay $8 a month. Coming before the rebrand to X, the move almost killed the platform, and things haven't got much better (see our pick of the best X alternatives if you're wondering where to go).
With so many parody accounts buying 'verified' status, Twitter had to add first grey and then gold checkmarks. The result was a system of lords, peasants, and peasants who paid to not look like peasants but whose shiny blue tick was now worthless. Two years on, things are no less chaotic, with some paying peasants now complaining that their paid-for blue checkmarks are being taken away.
