William Shatner, Monica Lewinsky and other prolific Twitter commentators 鈥� some household names, others little-known journalists 鈥� could soon be losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity on the social media platform.
They could get the marks back by paying up to $11 a month. But some longtime users, including 92-year-old Star Trek legend Shatner, have balked at buying the championed by Twitter鈥檚 billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk.
After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Saturday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who鈥檇 been to pony up or lose their legacy status.
鈥淚t will be glorious,鈥� he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Saturday is also April Fools鈥� Day.
After buying Twitter for $44 billion in October, Musk has been trying to boost the struggling platform鈥檚 revenue by pushing more people to pay for a premium subscription. But his move also reflects his assertion that the blue verification marks have become an undeserved or 鈥渃orrupt鈥� status symbol for elite personalities and news reporters.
Along with verifying celebrities, one of Twitter鈥檚 main reasons to mark profiles with a free blue check mark starting about 14 years ago was to verify politicians, and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to that are impersonating people.
Lewinsky tweeted a screenshot Sunday of all the people impersonating her, including at least one who appears to have paid for a blue check mark. She asked, 鈥渨hat universe is this fair to people who can suffer consequences for being impersonated? a lie travels half way around the world before truth even gets out the door.鈥�
Shatner, known for his irreverent humor, also tagged Musk with a complaint about the promised changes.
鈥淚鈥檝e been here for 15 years giving my (clock emoji) & witty thoughts all for bupkis,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淣ow you鈥檙e telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free?鈥�
Musk responded that there shouldn鈥檛 be a different standard for celebrities. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more about treating everyone equally,鈥� Musk tweeted.
For now, those who still have the blue check but apparently haven鈥檛 paid the premium fee 鈥� a group that includes Beyonc茅, Stephen King, Barack and Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, Tucker Carlson, Drake and Musk himself 鈥� have messages appended to their profile saying it is a 鈥渓egacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.鈥�
But while 鈥渢he attention is reasonably on celebrities because of our culture,鈥� the bigger concern for open government advocate Alex Howard, director of the Digital Democracy Project, is that impersonators could more easily spread rumors and conspiracies that could move markets or harm democracies around the world.
鈥淭he reason verification exists on this platform was not simply to designate people as notable or authorities, but to prevent impersonation,鈥� Howard said.
One of Musk鈥檚 first product moves after was to launch a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month. But it was quickly inundated by imposter accounts, including those impersonating Nintendo, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Musk鈥檚 businesses Tesla and SpaceX, so Twitter had to temporarily suspend the service days after its launch.
The relaunched service costs $8 a month for web users and $11 a month for iPhone and iPad users. Subscribers are supposed to see fewer ads, be able to post longer videos and have their tweets featured more prominently.
鈥擬att O鈥檅rien, The Associated Press
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