JAKARTA - Twitter began removing the blue tick from its user profile on Thursday, April 20, including famous figures such as Pope Francis, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo have lost their verified status.
Under Elon Musk's ownership, Twitter has changed how to provide a blue tick, which was previously given to famous individuals, journalists, executives, politicians, and institutions after verifying their identities. They serve as a sign of authenticity.
Musk said in November that Twitter would start charging $8 (Rp135,000) per month to tick the blue in a bid to launch more sources of revenue apart from advertising.
The company then offers a blue tick in other colors - gold for businesses and gray for government and multilateral organizations as well as officials.
The whale, who lost its blue tick on Thursday, was then given a check of the gray verification by Twitter.
The Vatican, shocked, said in a statement that it realized Twitter was making changes but noted that the Pope had more than 53 million followers on his @Pontifex account in various languages.
"While waiting to find out the platform's new policies, the Holy Throne hopes that they will include certification of the authenticity of the account," he said.
Some figures like basketball star LeBron James and writer Stephen King still have a blue tick, apparently thanks to Musk himself.
"The Shining" King writer, who previously referred to Musk as a bad Twitter user, tweeted: "My Twitter account says I subscribe to Twitter Blue. I don't. My Twitter account says I gave a phone number. I don't."
Musk tweeted back to him: "Together namaste," with the hand emoji folded.
The Verge reports that James, who previously said he would not pay for verification, also did not pay to keep his blue tick.
Musk tweeted separately: "I paid some personally." and then tweeted "Only Shatner, LeBron, and King," which referred to Star Trek actor William Shatner, who last month complained about being forced to pay to keep his blue tick.
Among those who lost the blue tick were former US President Donald Trump and reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
Twitter on Friday also removed the "government-funded" label from US-based National Public Radio (NPR) accounts, British Broadcasting Corp, and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Twitter also removed the tag "Chinese-affiliated media" on Xinhua News accounts as well as journalists linked to publications supported by the government.
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