Canadian Twitter users on why they decided to pay for their blue check mark
BNN Bloomberg
When Elon Musk took over Twitter last November, he quickly turned his attention to the platform's highly sought-after status symbol: the blue verification check mark. Here's why some Canadians have chosen to pay for the service.
The seal of approval previously handed out to celebrities, politicians, journalists and other public figures was meant to reduce impersonation attempts, help users wade through high volumes of replies and likes and make it easier to ensure people aren't duped by parody accounts.But Musk was intent on "treating everyone equally" and boosting the revenue of the US$44 billion social media platform he had just bought, so he announced last fall he would remove the check marks for users not paying for Twitter Blue. The platform's premium subscription also offers an edit button, fewer ads and the ability to post longer videos.
Accounts impersonating Tesla, gaming giant Nintendo and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly sprang up and paid for verification, pushing Musk to dump his check mark removal plans, but he revived them in April, yanking the symbol from accounts.
Some users were so angered they fled the platform, while others stuck around but lamented that the verification change along with several other moves Musk made that have shifted Twitter's public image.
