From Kejriwal to Adityanath: Top politicians lose Twitter 'blue tick'

Numerous high-profile people in India, including renowned politicians and chief ministers, have lost the "blue tick" mark on Twitter after the social networking platform implemented a subscription fee. Notable names that have lost their verification badges include Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and senior National Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, among many others.

• Following the announcement of Twitter's plans to remove the old verification badges, the social media company extended the deadline to Thursday to give verified users more time to decide if they wanted to pay for the service.
• According to the news agency Reuters, only a tiny fraction of approximately 1% of Twitter's users subscribed to "Twitter Blue."

Not just political leaders but the official handles of political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also lost their blue tick on the microblogging site. In fact, the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan, Rohit Sharma, etc., are among other key personalities who have lost their Twitter verification badge.

For users who still had their blue tick on Thursday, a popup notification indicated that the handle "is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number." Furthermore, there is still a list of Twitter handles with the verified badge because they fall under the microblogging site's "government or multilateral organization" accounts.

Since Elon Musk took over the charge of Twitter last year, the platform has undergone numerous major changes in the way it verifies its users with the iconic blue checkmark. Earlier, these badges were provided to well-renowned individuals, executives, journalists, establishments, and politicians after verifying their identities, symbolizing their authenticity for the users on the platform.

However, Musk recently implemented new rules to incentivize users to subscribe to Twitter's paid services, which he views as a major means for the platform's future revenue growth. Last month, the 51-year-old highlighted in a tweet that there was a 50% drop in advertising revenue from October and March, suggesting the need for other revenue streams.