Elon Musk’s Twitter is Changing Celebrity Status 

Vanessa Obioha

The new owner of the micro-blogging site Twitter, Elon Musk, is asking users to pay to be verified. The blue check mark which signifies that a celebrity is really the owner of the account due to online impersonations is a status symbol on the platform. Users with blue checks are often seen as celebrities, and thought leaders and perceived as authentic and authoritative voices in topical issues.

However, celebrities may not enjoy that status alone given Musk’s new verification plan for the platform. He is asking users to pay at least $8/month to get a blue check after the award-winning author Stephen King criticised him for the earlier price of $20.

“Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday, November 1.

What this means is that celebrities may no longer have the celebrity status symbol alone and it will be harder to determine who really is the owner of an account. Given the number of celebrity wannabes crawling the internet, anyone can easily assume the identity of Elon Musk as long as they can afford the blue verification badge.

In his defence, Musk tweeted that this already happened but for public figures, there will be a secondary tag.

The new verification system comes with some perks according to the billionaire. They include priority in replies, mentions and search “which is essential to defeat spam/scam,” the ability to post long video and audio, and have half as many ads.

For publishers, Musk said he is willing to bypass the paywall for those interested in working with the company.

“This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,” said Musk. 

Musk’s control over Twitter is one meshed in controversies, right from the acquisition to the takeover. He fired the Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and other top executives; he ousted the company’s board of directors and made himself the board’s sole member according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

With this new regime, one wonders if celebrities can enjoy their status alone.