Twitter ‘Official’ Tick Starts Appearing on Verified Accounts in India, Original Blue Ticks Still Visible For Now

Twitter has started displaying a new tick badge with the word ‘Official’ on the recognised Twitter accounts of news sources and public figures in India. Gadgets 360 has received its own tick, as has Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The previous “blue tick” badge, indicating that an account has been verified, are also still shown, for now. Twitter recently caused a storm for changing the way its widely recognised blue ticks work – instead of signifying that an account has been verified by Twitter as belonging to a noteworthy institution or individual, they are now given to all people who subscribe to Twitter Blue, the company’s paid offering.

One of the first sweeping changes announced by Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk was the repurposing of the blue tick and raising the price of Twitter Blue to $8 (approximately Rs. 650) per month, after initially suggesting that the privilege should cost $20 (approximately Rs. 1,630). Musk has also indicated that he wants to expand Twitter Blue to multiple countries including India before the end of November, and that prices will be adjusted in keeping with purchasing power parity. 

Twitter Blue subscribers will also be promoted higher in search results, reply threads and trending topic lists. This will result in the amplification of paid voices, which Musk is hoping will drive adoption of the premium subscription service. However, critics quickly noted that this defeats the purpose of account verification, allowing anyone who pays for Twitter Blue to appear to be a verified account.