Twitter Blue subscribers are being shamed into hiding the tick they paid for

Who’s ready for the latest round up of Twitter nonsense? Well, technically, I should say X but is anyone really going to stop saying Twitter?

It’s been a wild ol’ ride for Twitter since Tesla founder Elon Musk took over. Musk acquired the website last year in an eye-watering $41 billion deal. In case you missed it, the tech entrepreneur did actually attempt to back out of the deal but it was eventually pushed through. Perhaps that’s why he’s so intent on destroying the website. This year, we’ve seen some questionable changes made. The verification system was scrapped in favour of Twitter Blue. There was the 600 tweets a day cap, a new limit on sending DMs, and of course, the big X rebrand.

I’m no business expert but surely the fact that Twitter is such a well known and recognisable brand factors into its $41 billion worth. Just look at the fact that the word ‘tweet’ is part of our everyday lexicon. It baffles me that you’d want to change that to something as plain as X with the tagline, ‘Blaze your glory’. Anyway, we arrive at today’s nonsense. Twitter Blue subscribers are now being given the option of hiding their tick, despite the fact that verification is why many purchased a subscription in the first place.

Twitter Blue is pretty silly. You can no longer tell if your favourite celebrity is your favourite celebrity, but random users across the internet can verify they’re real for … no detectable reason whatsoever. I’m sure Twitter Blue has its uses. You can edit and write longer posts. That may help some people out career-wise but on the whole, many now view Blue ticks as a bit of a red flag - particularly due to how many scam and spam accounts have them. However, now, if you want to hide that you’re a subscriber, you can.

The Twitter Blue features page reads, “As a subscriber, you can choose to hide your checkmark on your account. The checkmark will be hidden on your profile and posts. The checkmark may still appear in some places and some features could still reveal you have an active subscription. Some features may not be available while your checkmark is hidden. We will continue to evolve this feature to make it better for you.” I dread to think what’s next for the site.