Elon Musk's twitter account is seen on a smartphone in front of the Twitter logo. Photo Reuters
Elon Musk's twitter account is seen on a smartphone in front of the Twitter logo. Photo Reuters

Twitter ticks check out

The big sort
Elon Musk, whose chaotic takeover of Twitter has seen his US$44 billion investment shrivel, earlier pledged to get rid of what he described as a "lords & peasants system," in which journalists, celebrities and politicians were given a mark that supposedly meant their accounts could be trusted.
Elon Musk's long-promised move to strip free blue ticks from Twitter users swung into action on Thursday, dividing the have-paids from the have-nots.

Like some kind of fable in which the chosen few ascend to a higher plane, accounts with a Twitter Verified check began rising above the rest - a rapture that left most of us behind.

Casualty number one: The Pope, the faith of whose 18.8 million followers will be tested by the absence of a blue badge on the @Pontifex account.

But across the religious board, the Dalai Lama remained at one with his blue check.

"Verified account," beams a pop-up box when you hover over His Holiness's tick.

"This account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number."

‘Naked’

Musk, whose chaotic takeover of Twitter has seen his US$44 billion investment shrivel, earlier pledged to get rid of what he described as a "lords & peasants system," in which journalists, celebrities and politicians were given a mark that supposedly meant their accounts could be trusted.

He offered instead to sell the blue badge to anyone who would pay $8 a month, in a move he said last year would "democratise journalism & empower the voice of the people."

On Thursday high-profile accounts, as well as those of many reporters at AFP and other news organisations, appeared to have had their checkmarks removed.

"I'm naked!" quipped one reporter when she discovered the once-coveted tick had gone.

But it wasn't just the chatterati and the hoi polloi who found themselves uncovered.

Twitterverse

Bona fide celebrities with huge followings were going about the Twitterverse unclothed.

Horror for Stephen King

Singer Selena Gomez and her 67 million followers: out of tune.

Basketball wizard Steph Curry and his 17.3 million followers: out of bounds.

But almost as if there was some grand plan, some scheme to bring order and balance to the universe, each action appeared to have an opposite reaction.

Musical megastar Rihanna: still lifting up her 108.3 million followers.

Los Angeles hoops legend LeBron James and his 52.7 million followers: swish.

The Great Sorting appeared to have no respect for families, with one particularly famous US clan divided.

Ivanka and Don Trump Jr. still revelled in their blue badge, but Eric Trump no longer had his, and neither did his dad, former president Donald Trump.

(The account - which Twitter says he can use again - in any case remains preserved in petulant aspic with a January 8, 2021 posting: "To all those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.")

Even Harry Potter creator JK Rowling was reduced to slumming it with the rest of us, her 14 million followers left to divine for themselves whether it was really her or Lord Voldemort at the keyboard.

‘Namaste’

But everything was maybe not as it seemed.

Fellow wordsmith Stephen King, who had previously vowed he would never cough up, even telling Musk that Twitter should instead be paying him to post, appeared horrified to discover that he still had his blue check.

He said: My Twitter account says I've subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven't.

Twitter's troll-in-chief Musk said in response to a news article about the check marks that he was "paying for a few personally," and replied to King's message with "You're welcome namaste."

The Verge reported that LeBron James' account was also the beneficiary of the entrepreneur's (possibly unwanted) largesse.

The tech outlet said a Twitter employee had emailed James - who has insisted he would not pay for a tick - to "extend a complimentary subscription... on behalf of Elon Musk." – Fin24/AFP

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LaLiga: Deportivo Alaves 2 vs 2 Girona SerieA: Frosinone 0 vs 5 Inter Milan Katima Mulilo: 14° | 33° Rundu: 13° | 32° Eenhana: 13° | 33° Oshakati: 15° | 32° Ruacana: 16° | 33° Tsumeb: 16° | 30° Otjiwarongo: 14° | 30° Omaruru: 17° | 32° Windhoek: 15° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 29° Henties Bay: 14° | 19° Wind speed: 23km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:42, High tide: 17:53 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 26km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:20, Low Tide: 23:40, High tide: 17:51 Walvis Bay: 15° | 23° Wind speed: 32km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:19, Low Tide: 23:40, High tide: 17:50 Rehoboth: 17° | 29° Mariental: 20° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 31° Aranos: 19° | 31° Lüderitz: 12° | 26° Ariamsvlei: 14° | 29° Oranjemund: 11° | 19° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 15° | 29° Lubumbashi: 14° | 29° Mbabane: 15° | 20° Maseru: 10° | 25° Antananarivo: 13° | 24° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 21° | 26° Windhoek: 15° | 28° Cape Town: 14° | 19° Durban: 18° | 19° Johannesburg: 17° | 25° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 29° Harare: 15° | 28° Currency: GBP to NAD 23 | EUR to NAD 19.82 | CNY to NAD 2.55 | USD to NAD 18.41 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.68 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.56 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.06 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.6 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1439.8 | USD to ZAR 18.44 | USD to ZMW 26.75 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 77539.13 Up +0.47% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1733.43 Up +1.10% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13478.23 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26003.16 Up +0.05% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 360.52/OZ UP +0.59% | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +1.13% | Zinc US$ 2 961.00/T DOWN -0.06% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.21/BBP DOWN -0.0171 | Platinum US$ 995.62/OZ UP +1.05% Sport results: LaLiga: Deportivo Alaves 2 vs 2 Girona SerieA: Frosinone 0 vs 5 Inter Milan Weather: Katima Mulilo: 14° | 33° Rundu: 13° | 32° Eenhana: 13° | 33° Oshakati: 15° | 32° Ruacana: 16° | 33° Tsumeb: 16° | 30° Otjiwarongo: 14° | 30° Omaruru: 17° | 32° Windhoek: 15° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 29° Henties Bay: 14° | 19° Wind speed: 23km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:42, High tide: 17:53 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 26km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:20, Low Tide: 23:40, High tide: 17:51 Walvis Bay: 15° | 23° Wind speed: 32km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:19, Low Tide: 23:40, High tide: 17:50 Rehoboth: 17° | 29° Mariental: 20° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 31° Aranos: 19° | 31° Lüderitz: 12° | 26° Ariamsvlei: 14° | 29° Oranjemund: 11° | 19° Luanda: 25° | 28° Gaborone: 15° | 29° Lubumbashi: 14° | 29° Mbabane: 15° | 20° Maseru: 10° | 25° Antananarivo: 13° | 24° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 21° | 26° Windhoek: 15° | 28° Cape Town: 14° | 19° Durban: 18° | 19° Johannesburg: 17° | 25° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 29° Harare: 15° | 28° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23 | EUR to NAD 19.82 | CNY to NAD 2.55 | USD to NAD 18.41 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.68 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.56 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.06 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.6 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1439.8 | USD to ZAR 18.44 | USD to ZMW 26.75 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 77539.13 Up +0.47% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1733.43 Up +1.10% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13478.23 Up +0.44% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26003.16 Up +0.05% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 360.52/OZ UP +0.59% | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +1.13% | Zinc US$ 2 961.00/T DOWN -0.06% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.21/BBP DOWN -0.0171 | Platinum US$ 995.62/OZ UP +1.05%