Following Elon Musk’s decision to make Twitter verification a paid subscription and remove verification on legacy accounts (accounts with verification prior to Musk’s takeover), several celebrities from around the world have expressed that they have no interest in paying for the service, which the social media platform has dubbed Twitter Blue.
When Twitter Blue was officially rolled out on Thursday, fans started to notice that some of their favourite local stars had their blue ticks removed from their profiles.
One of these was rapper and celebrity boxer Cassper Nyovest. When one fan advised him to subscribe for the service, Nyovest responded, “Nope. I’m verified in the streets!!!!”
Nope. I’m verified in the streets!!!! https://t.co/CSxTQRWjrb
— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) April 20, 2023
He since seems to have subscribed as he’s now had his verification tick restored. Other celebs who appear to have not subscribed for blue-tick verification are amapiano stars Felo Le Tee, Focalistic, Daliwonga, Sir Trill, Pabi Cooper, Mas Musiq and Mr JazziQ, as well as hip hop artists like Kid X, Zingah, Sliqe, Rouge, DJ Capital and Speedsta.
TV host Jimmy Kimmel, who has 11 million Twitter followers on the app, initially announced that he wouldn’t be signing up for the service but he now has his blue tick back after having had it removed.
Other globally renowned figures such as Bill Gates, Beyoncé, Stephen King and LeBron James also had their verification removed before they were reinstated either by Musk himself (he recently said he’d pay for some well-known celebrity verifications from his own pocket) or by subscribing to Twitter Blue.
Musk launched Twitter Blue last year when he announced that to get the blue tick, users had to pay an $8 subscription.
Twitter Blue subscriptions were made available in South Africa in March and, locally, the Twitter Blue subscription for web users costs R145 to R200 a month for web users and iOS/Android respectively.
Annual subscriptions cost R1 519 for web users and R2 099 for Android and iOS users.