Pope Francis' Twitter account, which has over 18.8 million followers, remained without a blue check after the ultimatum imposed by Elon Musk on profiles, forced to pay for the coveted verification mark on the social network average.
In addition to @Pontifex, the queen of pop Beyoncè, 15.5 million followers, and the New York Times were left without a check. Except, for the moment, the profile of the White House, which in any case had announced that it had no intention of paying the 84 dollars a year to subscribe to the "Blue Twitter" program.
In the religious world, while Pope Bergoglio has to put his hand to his credit card, the Dalai Lama has kept his blue check. However, the patriarch of Moscow Kirill and the Iranian supreme leader Khamenei have lost it.
Even former President Donald Trump, readmitted to social media by Musk, no longer has a verified account. However, his daughter Ivanka still has it.
Since its creation in 2009, the blue check has become a signature element that has helped the platform become a trusted forum for journalists and activists.
But the new owner of the social media has claimed the method will help unmask fake profiles.
“You can easily create 10,000 or 100,000 fake Twitter accounts using just one home computer and artificial intelligence. This is why you need to tighten the certification shirts and make sure that you need a verified phone number and a credit card to get the blue check. My prediction is that any so-called social network that doesn't do it will fail," decreed the millionaire Tesla boss when the ultimatum expired.
(Unioneonline/lf)