Many legacy accounts had their Twitter verification badges restored on the night of Saturday, April 22.
While the accounts showed that they had paid the Twitter subscription fee and verified their phone numbers, many dismissed the fact remarking that the badge was reintroduced without their knowledge.
A quick analysis of the restored accounts showed that the Elon Musk-owned company restored accounts with over 1 million followers.
“Twitter started giving anyone with a large following, roughly 1 million followers or more, a free checkmark,” Forbes stated.
The restoration offered relief to news organisations as hundreds of parody accounts sprouted to spread misinformation.
In Kenya, media outlets spent the better part of Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22, flagging parody accounts spreading misinformation.
Some leading news organisations that Elon Musk restored their verification badges included Kenyans.co.ke, Citizen TV, BBC and The Washington Post.
Some leaders and celebrities who had their verification tags restored included President William Ruto, Azimio Leader Raila Odinga, and veteran journalists Jeff Koinange and Larry Madowo.
While the news was welcome to many organisations, there was a concern as Twitter accounts for celebrities and leaders who passed on were given a blue tag.
The badge also notified that the passed-on celebrities had paid for the tick and verified their accounts.
“Musk has given checkmarks to people who’ve passed on. And when you click on the blue checkmark on their profiles it not only says they’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue, it says they’ve handed over their phone number,” Forbes noted.
Some notable personalities who had their accounts verified despite having passed on included basketballer Kobe Bryant and actor Anthony Bourdain.
Elon Musk was yet to release a statement on whether the blue badge would continue to be free for accounts with over 1 million followers.
