Twitter CEO Elon Musk has made his long-awaiting changes to the verification of accounts which has led to thousands of previously verified accounts having their accounts unverified and their ‘blue check’ mark removed.
Following Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the company introduced a subcription model called Twitter Blue which allows any account to be verified at a cost of $8 per month. Critics of the change have said that this change allows for scammers to seem like legitimate celebrities and poses a risk to fans and users of the site.
In addition to Musk’s $8 verification ticks, Twitter also featured ‘Legacy Blue checks’ which were for accounts that had proved they are genuine. This week, Musk’s latest change saw the disappearance of legacy blue checks, which critics have said makes it even easier for impersonations.
Many wrestlers and wrestling personalities had their accounts verified using this process, which have now all been removed due to these latest changes. Many of the people behind these accounts have spoken out on the changes.
Alexa Bliss, who has spoken out multiple times about accounts impersonating her, questioned if Musk would reimburse victims of scams.
AEW’s Dustin Rhodes stated that despite paying for Twitter Blue, he has not received his blue tick.
IMPACT’s Mickie James made her views clear by simply sending ‘WTF’ to the Twitter @verified account.
AEW World Champion MJF came up with a novel solution to avoid paying for his blue check mark. Following his new found friendship with Sammy Guevara, MJF said they’d both agreed to pay for each other’s subscription to avoice ‘being marks’.
NXT’s Dijak highlighted how easy it would be for a real-life person to get in trouble from what a ‘verified’ fake account says as them.
The worldwide negative reaction to the move continues across Twitter with many suggesting leaving the platform until the original verification process has been restored.
Elon Musk himself is yet to comment since the changes came into effect.