BENGALURU: After taking over Twitter, Elon Musk recently announced an overhaul of the social media’s verification system. Soon, users will have to pay and purchase verification. Prominent Bengalureans speak to Dese Gowda about how it affects them
"Verification is irrelevant to me. Tick or no tick, it doesn’t matter. I’m not particularly concerned about my account being authentic. Sure, there will be other accounts all claiming to be the original/official account, but people who love me and know me, will know which one is the correct one, anyway! Every corporate establishment is out there to make money and rightfully so and will have whatever policies and processes they deem fit for their business and it’s up to the public to choose if they want to be a part of it. I will try to understand what the new policy reads like and see if there is any point at all to shell out money for a blue tick." - Raghu Dixit, singer
"Everyone who wants to get verified should get verified. But I don’t think people should be charged for it. Verification should always be free. In my opinion, monetising the blue tick is essentially monetising credibility. Credibility is like an award. There are awards today which can be bought. And these awards are never respected. Elon Musk says he’s trying to democratise Twitter through monetisation. Twitter would be far more democratic without the blue tick entirely than people paying to get one. Given the low price, there would no way to distinguish authentic accounts from bots and trolls. Anyone can now create as many accounts as they wish and verify them." - Harish Bijoor, brand guru
"Generally, for artistes, Twitter doesn’t matter as much as other social media platforms do. I would say that Instagram is the go-to platform for people in the arts world, there’s a lot more connection happening there than on Twitter. So, Twitter changing its policy on verification doesn’t really matter to many people outside of the news and business sector. I don’t see a lot of people who will be willing to pay just to keep the blue tick, especially if they already have a large enough following on the platform." - Manasi Prasad, musician
"The people most angry about this whole thing are not upset because they will have to pay $8, but because now everybody would be able to afford it. Now everybody’s going to get a blue tick. It’s not going to be limited to a select few. Verification is important to a lot of people, it helps with exposure. Everybody who wants to be verified should be able to get verified. But with the current system, it doesn’t happen." - Ricky Kej, two-time Grammy award-winning composer
"With the new system, Twitter is going backwards. If it’s only a question of paying $8 to get a blue tick, then it’s defeating the whole purpose of verification. Currently, you know that the blue tick is only affordable to people who are authentic and are notable in their field. Even though it was a prestigious thing, it ensured safety for everyone. But right now, it only comes down to money. And it would be very hard to make out which accounts are actually notable." - Avril Quadros, entrepreneur
"I’m not really surprised that Elon Musk decided to monetise verification. He’s the same guy who supposedly rented out his house as a nightclub during his college days to make extra money on the side. Right now, verification has its benefits. When you see the blue tick next to an account, you know that it’s authentic. But at the same time, I know a lot of people who are doing incredibly well without it. I feel that even if Twitter goes ahead with their plan to verify everyone who pays, it should have some exceptions to weed out accounts that spread misinformation." - Shankar Chugani, comedian