'Hey Blue Tick welcome back': Film stars rejoice as Twitter reinstates legacy blue checkmark

Several Indian film personalities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Prakash Raj, expressed their gratitude to Twitter on Sunday for restoring their verified blue check marks after the social media platform removed them earlier in the week. The move came after Twitter started removing the blue tick from the profiles of thousands of high-profile individuals, including politicians, celebrities, and journalists.

Celebrities like Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Rajinikanth, and others lost their verified status due to Twitter's new policy of charging a monthly subscription fee to maintain their verification status. However, the company reinstated the blue ticks for many of these accounts over the weekend.

Bachchan, an avid Twitter user, thanked Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for USD 44 billion last October, in a tweet, saying, "Hey Musk bro! Thank you very, very much for reinstating the blue tick in front of my name. I feel like singing. Will you listen? So, listen. 'Tu cheez Musk Musk, tu cheez badi hai, Musk."

Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who was surprised to see her verification badge restored, tweeted, "Woah! Dunno how but the blue tick is back. I'm Priyanka again!"

Meanwhile, Prakash Raj expressed his excitement in a tweet, saying, "Hey #BlueTick welcome back. I missed you ..did u miss me #justasking. Thank you @Twitter."

The blue tick’s removal caused concern among verified account holders. While there has been no official word from Twitter on the reinstated blue ticks, reports suggest that the company is restoring the verified status for accounts with a high follower count.

It is unclear whether these accounts have paid for the verification or if Twitter has restored them as a goodwill gesture. However, Twitter's new policy of charging a monthly fee of Rs 650 on the web and Rs 900 on mobile devices to maintain verification status, with an annual plan of Rs 6,800 per year, has received criticism from users.

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