Under Elon Musk’s orders, Twitter has begun pulling away the legacy blue tick marks that once verified public figures, celebrities, and politicians to authenticate their profiles. As several global celebrities woke up to a badge-less Twitter, the ‘Shehenshah’ of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan posted a hilarious request to Twitter. Within minutes of the senior actor posting his tweet, the public bombarded the comments section with wholesome support for senior Bachchan’s request to Musk.
In his typical style, Bachchan, in tweet number 4,623, requested Twitter to give back his blue tick after complaining that that had not yet been verified, despite paying the Twitter Blue subscription fee to retain his verification badge.
Originally, the tweet was posted in Bachchan’s native Allahabadi vocabulary, where the actor funnily called the blue tick a ‘neel kamal’ (blue lotus), awaiting its return to his profile soon.
The Shole star said that he needs the blue tick to ensure to his fans that his profile is indeed being run by him and is not amongst thousands of fan-run accounts. He ended up asking Twitter if he needs to join his hands and bow his head to get his blue tick back.
“T 4623 – Twitter brother! Are you listening? Now I have paid the money too… so do put that blue lotus ✔️ back right next to my name, brother, so that people know that it’s me – Amitabh Bachchan – I’ve already folded my hands, must I fall at your feet, too??” the 80-year-old veteran actor wrote.
Bachchan’s fans tried to bring his predicament to Musk’s notice, pointing out how bizarre it was that India’s ‘Mahanayak’ no longer had his badge of verification on Twitter.
T 4623 – ए twitter भइया ! सुन रहे हैं ? अब तो पैसा भी भर दिये हैं हम … तो उ जो नील कमल :heavy_check_mark: होत है ना, हमार नाम के आगे, उ तो वापस लगाय दें भैया , ताकि लोग जान जायें की हम ही हैं – Amitabh Bachchan .. हाथ तो जोड़ लिये रहे हम । अब का, गोड़वा :footprints:जोड़े पड़ी का ??
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 21, 2023
On Friday, April 21, several global celebrities and public figures lost their blue ticks on Twitter. These include Indian biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath among others. Even The Pope lost the twitter tick mark on the @Pontifex account initially.
Musk entered the ruckus while replying to comments on Twitter and disclosed a detail that opened flood gates of complaints over unfairness and memes on the social networking platform.
The Twitter chief revealed that he was personally paying his company to retain the verification badges of three celebrities — Star Trek veteran William Shatner, basketball legend LeBron James, and American author Stephen King.
Pop star Selena Gomez, who has 67 million followers on Twitter has also bid adieu to her blue tick alongside many others.
Musk decided to monetise Twitter’s verification badge amid the company’s dwindling advertisement revenue. Despite criticism from many, Musk finally implemented his plan and decided to roll back legacy check marks that used to be given to public figures verified by a team of analysts.
In India, Twitter Blue costs Rs. 900 for a monthly subscription or a discounted Rs. 9,400 for a yearly plan.
