Elon Musk Issues Warning To Kenyans Verified On Twitter

The monthly subscription fee will affect everyone across the board; not even celebrities and prominent politicians will be spared.

Elon Musk Issues Warning To Kenyans Verified On Twitter
Elon Musk laughing during a past conference. /SKY NEWS

Elon Musk, the world's richest person and the Twitter boss has issued an ultimatum to owners of accounts with unpaid blue badges.

Musk, in response to a Twitter user who sought clarity on the disappearance of the checkmarks for non-corporate and government officials, issued a directive that will lead to the suspension of the unpaid badges.

The user, who is a gamer, also wanted Musk to answer the matter of legacy verification which has not been going on for the past few days since the process was removed in preparation for the new system.

Screenshot of Twitter's verification request option which has been disabled. /FILE

All unpaid legacy Blue checkmarks will be removed in a few months,” Musk elaborated.

The billionaire also announced the relaunch of the verification process after he suspended the subscription-based blue tick verification labels after Twitter users took advantage of it to get the coveted premium badge.

“Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29 to make sure that it is rock solid,” he stated.

After the service was relaunched, a large number of fake verified accounts surfaced on Twitter, forcing it to change its plans.

Users who have blue checkmarks will retain their status in exchange for Ksh971.60 (US$8) per month subscription service.

After the relaunch, Twitter users who officially own their verified accounts will find it hard to change their names, if they are using pseudonyms, as they will have to lose their badges until the micro-blogging platform confirms and verifies them in line with their terms of service.

The monthly subscription fee will affect everyone across the board; not even celebrities and prominent politicians will be spared.

“Being able to sort by follower count & disallowing deliberate impersonation probably solves this,” he explained.

Twitter on Wednesday, November 9 started introducing a new feature of a grey verification label that runs alongside the famous blue checkmark. The new feature has already been allocated to high-profile accounts to indicate authenticity.

The popular social media platform had already removed the option for users to sign up for verification. It had previously simplified the process, allowing personalities ranging from politicians to journalists, celebrities, heads of states et al to apply to get the coveted blue checkmark for free.

A grey checkmark displayed below the account's current verified 'blue' tick. /TWITTER.ESTHER CRAWFORD