Cristiano Ronaldo, Twitter's most followed athlete, LOSES his blue tick

Image: Daily Mail

Elon Musk's Twitter is no respecter of persons or personality as he rips off the verification blue tick from Cristiano Ronaldo's account. Despite the fact that the Portuguese star is Twitter's most-followed athlete, with 108.3 million fans, his account was stripped still by Emperor Musk.

 

Ronaldo's account no longer has the 'legacy verified checkmark' which was previously used to confirm the validity of official accounts.

This week Twitter enforced new rules which saw thousands of accounts lose their blue ticks, regardless of how famous they are, and Ronaldo was one of those despite being the most followed sportsperson on the platform.

Users can now pay a monthly subscription of $8 (£6.46) to sign up to Twitter Blue, which comes with the blue tick along with access to other features such as longer video uploads and an edit button.

But many have taken umbrage with Musk's money-making tactics, and have chosen not to contribute to the billionaire's coffers following his $44billion (£38.1 billion) takeover of Twitter in October 2022.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Twitter's most followed sportsperson, is no longer verified by the platform. The Portuguese superstar's blue tick was removed after he chose not to sign up to Twitter Blue.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has enforced new rules that require users to pay for blue checkmarks. However, Musk had no issue paying $8 per month himself to keep LeBron James verified.

Musk stated that he is paying $8-a-month out of his own pocket to keep the verified blue tick on basketball superstar LeBron James, as well as author Stephen King and actor William Shatner.

See the tweet:

Elon Musk reveals he is ‘personally paying’ the Twitter Blue subscriptions of some celebrities to keep their checkmark, such as Lebron James and Stephen King. pic.twitter.com/ulLvwOyLIn

— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 20, 2023

James previously stated that he had no intention of paying the subscription to keep his blue tick, leaving Musk to explain the situation to confused users. 

But it appears that the 51-year-old's generosity did not apply to the most followed sportsperson on his platform, footballing icon Ronaldo. Ronaldo's popularity has remained high after spells with top clubs Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus. 

The 38-year-old currently plays his club football in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, where he earns £173m a year, so the cost of the monthly subscription is not an issue. 

Verified ticks have been used on Twitter since 2009, after St. Louis Cardinals manager Anthony La Russa sued the site over an imposter account, and were previously issued to accounts of public interest - later known as 'legacy checkmarks' under Musk's ownership.

The removal of blue tick marks has led to concerns that impersonation attempts will increase, and it will also spur on an increased wave of misinformation. Which has already started with a fake Donald Trump's Twitter account tweeting that he is gay.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

#Cristiano Ronaldo

#Twitter

#Elon Musk
#Lebron James
#Blue Tick
#Donald Trump