Some joking others sarcastic, celebrities from across the Indian entertainment industry, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Taj actress Aditi Rao Hydari and comedian Vir Das, had a field day on Twitter after losing their verified status on the social media platform.
Indian celebrities such as Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, and Rajinikanth, among others, lost verified blue ticks on their Twitter accounts after Elon Musk's microblogging site started removing check mark icons from accounts that did not pay the monthly subscription fee.
Bachchan, an active user of Twitter, had a funny response after the blue tick got removed from his official page.
"Aye Twitter bhaiya! Sun rahe hain? Ab to paisa bhee bhar diye hain ham. Toh u jo neel kamal hot hai na, hamaar naam ke aage, u to vaapas lagaay den bhaiya, taaki log jaan jaayen kee ham hee hain - Haath to jod liye rahe ham. Ab ka, godava jode padee ka?? (sic). (Hey Twitter bro! Are you listening? Now that I've even paid the money, please put back that blue tick mark in front of my name, so that people know that it's me)," the veteran actor tweeted.
Hydari wrote, "Once upon a time there was a blue tick… did @Twitter and I live happily ever after?! #GoFigure"
Vir Das had a sarcastic response to the platform's decision.
"I like this world. To verify an artist, buy tickets, not ticks (sic). Bye, blue tick. I’m okay with someone impersonating me on Twitter. YOU deal with the things they call me (sic)," he wrote.
Actor Prakash Raj posted, "Bye-bye #BlueTick …. It was nice having you….my journey ..my conversations..my sharing…will continue with my people … you take care." "Rockstar" actor Nargis Fakhri wondered what's the point of having a blue tick when one can pay for it.
"I never really come on here. I just noticed I'm no longer verified with that blue thingy. So now everyone with a blue check pays a fee for it. Hmm okay. If anyone can buy it then what’s the point," she tweeted.
Actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar said her subscription ends next year in March but yet her account has been unverified.
"My account says the subscription will end on 17th March 2024, yet it says it is canceled. I have paid for a year. Why does it stand canceled @TwitterBlue ?" Tv star Kaushik said, "I'l be here tomorrow Freely Tangled up, Triggering a few, loving n loved by few, misunderstood by many n vibe with few but Mainly UNVERIFIED (sic)." "Twitter is losing the plot. Maybe it’s time to lose Twitter," Dogra tweeted.
Twitter started removing the blue tick that had verified the identity of the user behind an account, from the profiles of thousands of celebrities, politicians, and journalists on Thursday.
The blue tick was considered something of a status symbol but under Musk, who bought Twitter for USD 44 billion in October, the social media service is now charging individuals a monthly fee of Rs 650 on the web and Rs 900 on mobile devices to maintain their verification status.
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