Not as it used to be, Twitter Users will start to pay $8 (UGX 30,000) monthly to get verified blue badge on Twitter.

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In an effort to differentiate accounts with blue badges purchased through a paid subscription to Twitter Blue compared to the official accounts of politicians and media personalities, the social media platform will roll out two different types of checkmark badges. 

"A lot of folks have asked about how you'll be able to distinguish between @TwitterBlue subscribers with blue checkmarks and accounts that are verified as official, which is why we're introducing the 'Official' label to select accounts when we launch," Twitter's Director of Product Management, Esther Crawford, tweeted Tuesday. 

Accounts that purchase an $8 subscription to Twitter Blue will feature the well-known blue check badge next to their account name and on their profile, while select accounts will have a grey "official" badge on their profile, based on a screenshot Crawford shared. It is unclear if the "official" designation will also appear by the account name. The change has not yet been made to the current Twitter profile, as the Twitter Blue changes are set to roll out on November 9. 

"Not all previously verified accounts will get the "Official" label and the label is not available for purchase," Crawford added. "Accounts that will receive it include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures."

Since Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, he has revealed a new direction for the platform. The once-free verification badge, which has long been decried as being "elitist," with narrow eligibility requirements sometimes considered biased against average users, will no longer have an identification requirement and will be available for any user to purchase, according to Crawford's Tuesday tweets.

Critics have expressed concern that because anyone is able to purchase a verification symbol, it will become easy to impersonate others on the platform and commit fraud.

Source; Tech Insider.