X Hands Out Blue Ticks To ‘Influential’ Users

Social media platform X has begun granting free blue check marks to users with large numbers of verified followers, in the latest change of policy around the blue ticks.

The change was announced late last month and “influential” users began to see notifications last week saying that they had been granted free features.

Under the new policy, users with more than 2,500 verified followers – meaning followers who themselves are already paying for the X Premium service – will receive Premium features for free, including the blue tick.

Accounts with more than 5,000 verified followers receive Premium Plus features for free, including a nearly ad-free experience.

Policy shift

Some users chose to hide their new blue ticks.

“It is not possible to opt out of Premium, but at least I can make sure that no one mistakes me for a person who would give this place money,” Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote on X.

AI ethicist Timnit Gebru told the Washington Post that she hid her check mark in order to avoid the appearance she endorsed “anything” X owner Elon Musk is doing.

The shift is X’s latest change in policy around blue ticks since Musk bought the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in late 2022.

Twitter previously gave users check marks for free if they were deemed to have a high enough profile, as an indicator of whether a person or organisation was who or what they claimed to be.

‘Lords and peasants’

Musk criticised that system as dividing people between “lords and peasants” and instead saw the check marks as a revenue opportunity.

Under the new policy people received blue ticks if they paid for X Premium or X Premium Plus, which offers a nearly ad-free experience.

The blue ticks were taken away from most people who formerly had them, unless they signed up for X Premium.

As a result, the check marks became a sign that a user was paying X for premium access, which triggered a reaction of its own.

‘Blue blocking’

Some users have begun using browser extensions to block paying users, in what is called “blue blocking”.

Some industry watchers speculated that the latest policy is intended to stop people form indiscriminately blocking users with blue ticks, or to increase the perceived prestige of the check marks and thus to encourage more people to sign up.

X previously restored blue ticks for people with more than 1 million followers.